


The Wraith

by DenseHumboldt



Category: Captain Marvel (2019), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-31
Updated: 2020-03-26
Packaged: 2020-07-27 16:20:41
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 44
Words: 152,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20048968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DenseHumboldt/pseuds/DenseHumboldt
Summary: Pre-MovieTalos is a spy in the Kree-Skrull war, hardened by life spent in constant danger. He has sworn to stay cold and distant but when he is given an impossible mission with an even more impossible woman his resolve is weakened.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [eosdawns](https://archiveofourown.org/users/eosdawns/gifts).

> Welcome to the Talren fic I kept threatening to write!
> 
> This one is gifted to Eosdawns for the sheer fact I only have so many ways to adequately express my appreciation and I thought they may like the extended world I plan on creating.
> 
> 💙💙💙

The most over looked fact in any history is that war is ultimately boring. They filter, juice and squeeze every ounce of intrigue from the whole damn thing and spit it back as pint sized heroism. The war between the Kree and the Skrulls had gone on for a millenia and across all that time there was not a single battlefield that contained enough glory churned into the earth that would make the interminable waiting worth while.

War seemed to Talos to be unrelenting boredom with scattered evenings of mild interest. He would not have chosen war as an occupation if he had been given the option. Spying was its own particular tedium. He had chosen that. Granted his options had been literally hiding, running, dying or spying. Of all those action verbs spying seemed the most likely to include catering.

That wasn't to say Talos wasn't good at war. He was preternaturally good at war. He was infuriatingly, unjustly good at war. It was unfair because it made it hard to leave. He had considered it. Encampments of Skrulls could not survive. Communities drew the deadly attention of the Kree but a single Skrull could walk unnoticed. There was nothing stopping him from merely stepping off his ship and allowing the war to continue without him. And continue it would. Talos was not delusional. He would not end the war. He would not be anything more than a cog in the engine until he was dead. Or so crushed he ceased to be functional. Then they would retire him to some colony on some backwater that eventually fell to the Kree. Then he would be dead and also a statistic.

In a way, that made him even more reckless. If he had to stay, If his weak and inconsistent gut would not let him abandon the cause as he dreamed then he could hopefully shorten the amount of time he had to continue doing his job. What was it? Do a job poorly enough and they will never ask you to do it again?

Currently he was camped out on Cairn, a planet whose civilization could be traced back farther than any other's in its star system. His mission was in Aloma the oldest city, on the oldest planet in a star system that was ambivalent to the existence of his people. A place where knowledge collected in its massive university. He said it was ambivalent because if he was certain the library contained one wing that detailed in one hundred thousand tomes the plight of his people, and probably across the library another wing that had a hundred thousand and one books on why they were a scourge. Then as books were re-read and refiled those books exchanged with one another until through academical osmosis they met at an even level and no one had to pick a side of who was right and who was wrong. And so academia was once again saved from being held to their morals.

It went without saying Talos was not happy at his current post. Although he supposed other minds might find it useful. 

Not that he had been useless. There were always visiting professors to be reported on and galas he could infiltrate in order to gain an idea of how the political breeze was blowing between Xandar and Hala. When they were in staunch opposition to each other the Elder Council knew they could extract spiteful favours from Nova Prime. When they were at some sort of peace then the Skrulls had to lay even lower. Like a regretted lover Xandar only wanted to see them when they were fighting with their wife.

The Skrulls could never truly rely on them and knowing their exact mood toward the Kree at any given moment was as crucial to their survival as knowing where the Kree would target next.

Theirs had become a silent war. A war that lived more in rhetoric than in action because despite their constant seeking the Kree were only as good at crushing the Skrulls as a boot was at crushing an ant. The odds were in their favour but never guaranteed.

Talos had lived in the war his whole life. His father had been a General, a rank he now held, and his mother a political assassin. A function he occasionally filled. They were both dead now. His father died when Talos was very young and the oldest Skrull colony had fallen on Zendinar. Talos had lived there with his father, and his mother had come and gone as needed. When it fell to ash at the hands of the Accusers his mother had returned for him. He had refined his shapeshifting at her knee. Unlike his father who had intense emotional empathy and middling physical, his mother was an ocean. She could fill any vessel that was needed of her and she was as deadly as she was misleading.

She had died fourteen years earlier when Talos was not yet a man but no longer a boy. She had made the lethal mistake of falling in love with a target. Talos could not blame her, their strength came from the vulnerability of their feelings. The openess of their bodies so that even on the most basic cellular level strangers could pass through them. For this reason he had hardened himself, before he even entered his enlistment, to the Skrull cause and the potential for love.

He was a man who chose to be without a future.

At the moment, he barely had a present. He was disguised as a Cairn born man and employed himself at the University as a maintenance worker. He could pass through every door, had a key to any lock and was invisible to every eye.

The man whose face he had chosen was dead. Not by Talos' hand but by plague. A disease that ravaged the places forgotten beyond Aloma's walls. A compendium of knowledge amassed on a hill and below the poor still died.

Talos knew the man liked birds. He had been thinking of them often as he lay sick and dying. He knew he loved a dark haired woman but did not know her name because the man didn't know it. When he spoke his voice was deep, resinous it coated Talos' throat and made him want to cough. An effect perhaps of the thickening lung tissue brought on by the plague.

His name had been Enzo so that was the name Talos used. In his free time Talos found himself more and more drawn to the ornithology section. Looking at pictures of birds be had never seen before soothed Enzo against his skin, brought peace to the fear he felt about his imminent death. A state Talos was frozen in as he held Enzo's last few weeks as if he were in amber.

There was a girl browsing the shelves that day. She had long brunette hair. Her destination was no where near the ornithology section but Talos trailed after her anyway because Enzo liked brown hair. She caught his eye only once as she breeze passed Ornithology, she turned her eyes away quickly as if she had not seen him at all. He found his feet following her, book in hand, out of zoology entirely. He haunted her passed Botany, Biology, Planet Science, and onwards. He did not dog her heels like an untrained whelp he moved cautiously through the stacks as if she were a rare bird Enzo had spotted.

She didn't mark him. He was as invisible to the women of Cairn University as he was to anyone else even though Enzo was one of his better looking disguises. He had been near Talos' age, a long thin face with piercing blue eyes. Not handsome but something about him made you want to look at him just a moment longer. The uniform of a maintenance worker undid much of the charm.

He was watching her through the gaps in the books as she paused in the other aisle, her head bent thoughtfully over a book. Her long brown hair fell forward and she tucked it back impatiently. Talos knew he should move soon. There was no reason to watch her other than she had peaked something in Enzo's amber heart. She closed her book with a snap and all but threw it back onto the shelf.

Before he could react she pulled a book at level with her and there was suddenly a gap through which he could see her clearly and she could see him.

They were frozen looking at each other. Talos didn't know if it was the effect of only his face being visible but this time her eyes fixed on him. He smiled at her feeling Enzo's heart beat just a little faster. Or maybe it was his own. There was a war betwixt his skin and his innards. Where did Enzo stop and Talos begin? He could never tell but she was brunette and Enzo liked brown hair.

"Hello," he said feeling the dorky smile cross his face. Enzo didn't talk to girls very often.

"Hello," she answered back her eyes drifting to the book again. 

His eyes stayed on her for a second too long before falling to the book open in his hand. The painting in it of bird with a flaming red tail and emerald plummage. He was suddenly struck by just how old this place was they had actual books. He looked at the weighty item in his hand as if it was the first time he had really seen it. The girl's eyes were on him again. He looked back at her.

"Are you lost?" She asked her voice was rich and round like a smoothed piece of jade. Just as cold.

"No, no I am right where I need to be," he put his head on the dusty shelf. "Under 'E' for Enzo."

The girl looked at him blankly and he coughed awkwardly stepping back from the shelf.

"Because that's my name," he clarified. Talos was a smooth talker, Enzo not so much. She raised her eyebrows and he was worried she would walk away before he got her name. "Your hair is very pretty."

"Thank you." She stepped marginally closer to the shelves so she could see all of him more clearly. "Your book looks heavy."

Talos snapped it closed. "It's nothing."

"You are very far from ornithology, Enzo." 

"You know, birds, flight. Flight, physics. Here I am." He did an awkward shake of his hands. Talos needed to get out before she called security on him. She could have hit a silent panic button minutes ago and he wouldn't know. Enzo couldn't lose his job.

"I am going from Physics to Geomorphology. I trust there will be nothing of interest to the birds in that section. Am I right?"

"The birds understand what part of the library to stay in," he raised his hands in surrender and stepped back from the shelf.

"I am glad we understand each other," the girl smiled tightly and placed the book back.

Enzo returned to his room.

There was a message waiting for him when he returned. The old silvered mirror he had leaned by his bed pulsed with the blue light of his communicator. He slid his fingers over the glowing surface. He hated the way another face looked back at him as he opened the link. He could not release Enzo or he would lose his face. That was why these missions wore so hard on him, he had to remain behind one mask until all was complete. Every time it was time to return to himself he worried he would not remember how to change back. Wearing a face for too long caused a fracture in the sense of self. It damaged permanently some tiny piece of your identity. That was why they could not hide indefinitely without losing their minds.

The message opened and several images moved across the mirror's surface. It appeared Enzo's time at Cairn was coming to an end, the mission had changed.

Across the mirror's surface was the face of a Kree man, a professor coming to lecture for an extended period of time accompanied by his assistant. He was an expert in mineral extraction from planet crusts. He was a bit of a crack pot based on his research. He used the features of the planet's surface to predict deposits of rare minerals. His track record didn't exactly support his theories but he had actually been exiled due to his involvement in the collapse of a mining planet. It had killed enough labourers galactic relations for the Kree were tense. Hence he was hiding on Cairn.

He was due to return to Kree society when he could predict a deposit of magnesite large enough to develop new more powerful weaponry for the Accusers. Once he could give them the name of a planet to pillage he would be free. His debt paid.

The Elder Council wanted to ensure he never found that planet. The assistant's fate would be based on Talos' professional judgement. As far as the council was concerned they were collateral damage waiting to happen.

Talos would have to get close to both of them, he would kill them and destroy their research. Then he would leave Enzo in the dirt of this planet to become one with his ancestors and Talos would be on the wind again.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shadows

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone taking the chance on this odd story!
> 
> I love you all very much 💚💙💜❤

Professor Woh-Lar was younger than Talos expected. He was a distinguished man, he moved slowly but his movements had grace and intention. Talos was hunkered down low beneath the desk one leg awkwardly sticking out as he failed over and over to 'repair' the projector he had broken that morning. Enzo needed to get into Woh-Lar's classroom and what was better than being invited?

He listened to Woh-Lar lecture his class, the snide remarks he made about Cairn technology and the drone of useless information. Talos slid a cuff onto the connecting cables in the back of the projector. The cuff would download all the files off of any data pad connected to it. Deciding he had made the repair seem complicated enough Woh-Lar wouldn't attempt it Talos plugged the feed back into the correct port and the projector whirred to life. He stayed a moment longer beneath the desk to ensure the cuff lit up as it was supposed to. Just as he was about to slide out from the desk there was the fumbling of books and datapads on the desk above and a sharp pain in his legs.

"Careful Emerys," the Professor admonished above Talos.

Talos looked down his body to what had tangled in his legs and was confronted by heaven. Long pale legs poking out from a pleated skirt had stumbled over him, the owner of the legs tilted forward onto the desk. Obviously she had been carrying too much and hadn't seen him. He was still curled awkwardly under the desk when she looked under at him. Long brown hair, button nose. The girl from the library. He didn't want her to see the cuff's light so he sat up quickly, she stepped back as he filled her space.

They were still tangled together as he slid out from under the desk and she tried to step neatly over his legs as he moved. When he stood up he found they were even closer together than they had been in the library. She glanced down awkwardly at her shoes, before her eyes flicked out to the entire lecture hall. The students clearly found them more interesting than the Professor. Enzo smiled at her. She mouthed the word 'sorry' at him. Woh-Lar aware something was more interesting behind him glanced over his shoulder.

"We will call you if we need anything else. Emerys, where are my notes?" Woh-Lar dismissed him.

Talos moved as silently as he could from the stage. The girl from the Library was Woh-Lar's assistant. The collateral damage. Emerys.

He was glad he had loosened the screws on Woh-Lar's chair. He wanted a reason to come back, hopefully while she was still there.

* * *

Talos hovered through the halls, earpieces in his ears and the receiver clipped to his belt. He pushed a broom slowly. He appeared to the passing students and staff as a distracted janitor moving ineffectively through the halls. What he was actually doing was listening. Snippets of conversations and lectures. All day he would move through the University the walls as ineffective as paper at stopping him from hearing the words spoken behind closed doors.

There was music coming from the conservatory wing. Each room had been soundproofed so Talos alone was able to hear the lilting notes of the music students playing. He swept slowly through this wing. It was haunting and beautiful. It stirred something in him. He recognized the piece as one played often before. He knew the girl practicing it was from Xandar Prime. She was as pretty as her music. Enzo liked her slim hands and pretty green eyes. He liked them a lot. If there were not more pressing matters he would have waited, looking busy until she left the practice rooms. She often smiled at him. No other students did that. In his mind's eye, Talos pictured leaving Cairn and somehow leaving Enzo behind and maybe one day he would work up the nerve to ask her out.

That was impossible, of course, because Enzo was dead.

He wouldn't wait today. There was lots to do. The school was a buzz with the new professor's arrival, especially on the heels of a massive disaster.

The history wing could often be counted on for some intense debate about any news in the University. That was the point of the discipline, to place events in context. Talos frequently shoved non-standard sized debris into the pneumatic tube port outside the staffroom door at night when no one was around. It meant he could hang outside the office listening while dislodging various items from the first bend. The tubes were an extinct system but in a University that still used books they weren't entirely obsolete. Talos thought the backward technology had become a status symbol for The University of Cairn. They were so old and established they were full of old useless things.

Talos set to work dismantling the tube. His ear piece crackled and the disembodied voices poured through.

_"- have you seen him yet?"_

_"The Kree?"_

_"Yes."_

_"No, not yet. I know the Xandarian profs are considering going to the union."_

_"That war has been dormant for years, why stir up trouble?"_

_"They are approaching it as its negatively impacting the Rhondarians."_

_"Why?"_

_"The collapse was on Rhondar. How would you feel seeing the man who killed two hundred of your people being lauded as a genius by your own University."_

_"No one is calling him a genius, are they?"_

_"No need to, he will do it for them."_

_"Have you seen his assistant? She arrived a day before him."_

_"I did. Is she Kree? She is very pale."_

_"I didn't catch her name. Pretty thing. Not sure if she has the brains. Hard to tell with Profs like Woh-Lar."_

_"I heard she is like a daughter to him. He's known her father since they were boys. He took her on to help her career-"_

Talos pulled last crumpled ball of paper from the tube. All useless gossip. If he was being honest he was stinging a little that Emerys was a Kree. He'd liked her. Or at least Enzo had.

He resumed with his broom. The other hallways had similar gossip. Each passing assessment of Emerys looks made something small and dark blossom in his chest. He had to remind himself Enzo was no different. When she was so young people had to wonder how she had become his assistant.

For awhile there was not even the monotony of whispers. He passed near the giant library doors and the silence was near deafening.

_"What do you mean stolen?"_ A voice hummed in his ears. Talos didn't react. He kept sweeping. Shockingly the floor outside this particular door became the most well swept corner of the whole University.

_"Exactly what I said."_ Another voice replied. There was no lag in his receiver so he knew they were speaking Common.

_"Who would steal them? Most students refuse to look at anything not on a datapad."_

Nothing then, some minor University intrigue. Talos continued on.

He passed a classroom that appeared empty from the outside except a horrible disrupting static filled his ears. Talos tried remain stoic but the pain of the high pitched whine dug into the deep parts his brain. He looked up and down the hallway and seeing no one ripped one ear piece out. He massaged his ringing ear while the other one continued to be abused. He tried to adjust his receiver but it was too much. He retreated away.

Someone was using a frequency blocker, an idiot, was using a frequency blocker. If they were worried about seeming suspicious nothing was a bigger hint than a big 'do not enter' sign. Whatever was happening beyond that door it would have been better to yell the conversation in the hallways than to cloak themselves behind a wall of sound. People ignored boldness.

Talos adjusted his range and crept closer again. The shrillness was gone but they were garbled and a deep base sound tickled his nerves. Two voices. Speaking common.

_"-shht- did you get the money upfront this time?"_

_"I -- lesson -- ti-- "_ Talos adjusted the box again as the sound skipped. _"Nothing goes out of here without us getting paid."_

_"No honour among thieves."_

_"They aren't even thieves, these guys are the big time. Revolutionaries. All that shit they talk in the PoliSci department but real."_ There was some wonder behind the voice. Naiveté too if he thought revolution was glamorous. Talos crouched nearer the wall.

_"No wonder they don't have the money then,"_ the other voice was more jaded but both were basically children. The sheltered spawn of the wealthy playing at Technowar. Except they had stumbled onto something very real.

_"Man we shouldn't even be talking about this-"_

_"The blocker's on. Nothing gets through it. That's why they wanted it in the first place."_

Talos scoffed. Apparently they were idiots on all sides. He had circumvented their tech with momentary adjustments.

_"These guys are going toe to toe with the Kree, I wouldn't take any risks."_

_"There aren't even any major Kree settlements near here. That's why the Ulohmu are even here-"_

Talos yanked the earpiece out of his ear no longer able to stand the movement of the bass along his nerves. He felt nerves tighten around his spine. He was certain the boys had said Ulohmu. A name that made Talos nervous.

They were his brethern but they were dangerous. They were radicals. They had no interest in the slow movements of the Elder Council. They cared only about striking at the flesh of the Kree. They were a nibbling bug that kept the Kree giant swatting.

He felt rage too. They undermined what foot soldiers like Talos accomplished, risked Skrull lives for meaningless gains.

He hated them. And they were here.

* * *

He returned to his room and called up information through his commlink. He would need to tell the council the Rebels were close to Cairn. Hopefully they could circumvent any foolishness.

For the most part their intelligence was old. Over a year. The Ulohmu were good at hiding. When they caused a mess they never stuck around.

There was one photo though. Recent. Six months. The leader of the Ulohmu was in motion, moving down the street. The smoke billowing from one of their attacks obscuring the grainy background. She was an older woman, halfway through transforming her alias so her face was a distorted blur as the camera shutter had clicked away. Next to her, a hood obscuring her features to the people in the street, was another woman. The camera caught her true face. She was slim with dark eyes. Talos felt a squeezing in his gut when he looked at her. It had been so long since he had seen a woman of his own kind. This one was beautiful, even with her mouth in a hard line. Neither woman looked back at the disaster they left in their wake.

He enhanced the frame hoping there would be more information in the file. Nothing.

_Alias: unknown, Age: unknown, Role: Tech Analyst_

Seven words on a woman who looked like she carried the revolution on her slim shoulders.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Unease

Talos paced his small room. He was gesturing to himself. Practicing for when he spoke to the Elder Council. The information was time sensitive but it was also uncorroborated. It was at best speculative intel. He had to be sure before he went to them that he wasn't just trying to distract himself from the mission he was currently trapped in.

He turned back to look at the picture again. It was poor quality. It was uninformative. And he was completely entranced by it. It was a piece of something larger. It was a moment of interest in the unrelenting boredom of war. It was an opportunity to change the tide in an incremental way. If they could contain the Ulohmu they could make some actual progress against the Kree. Progress unfettered by flashy shows of force which ultimately endangered their people.

If, they were truly close by. That would be the Council's first argument. All he knew was someone presenting themselves as the Ulohmu had approached two bone-headed students. Talos stopped his pacing and looked hard at the hooded woman. The Tech Analyst. He wanted her to be better than this. He didn't want her fooled by the idiotic frequency blocker.

"Do you know it's bullshit?" He asked her picture, crouching in front of it so he could see her face more clearly. "What is it you really want?"

She was silent, of course. Although the photo was still he thought he would know her walk immediately. He felt like he would know her. He wanted more than this photo. He wanted to know more about how anyone became part of such a group. What was the moment they chose to turn their back on the Elders.

He would need to tell them soon. He picked up his small receiver and sat on the bed. He fiddled with the settings for a moment before laying back on the thin cot. He stared at the water stain in his ceiling and tossed the receiver above his head, catching it as it fell back towards him.

Could he be turned? He wondered if he had rebellion in him. Was that why she fascinated him? He caught the receiver one more time before sitting up to look at her again. So many women called to Enzo, lonely romantic Enzo, but she called to Talos. She called to something ancient and inexorable in him. The desire to survive, to win this war. All dangerous feelings he thought he had stamped out.

He turned off the commlink and the image flickered out. Enzo was making him soft. Enzo who was not angry that he would die from a disease whose cure resided somewhere beyond the walls of the University. Enzo who felt only longing for a life he would not get to live. Enzo who feared death like a child and therefore contained in him the useless childlike organ of hope.

Talos began pacing again. This time it was Enzo he faced. Talos would be free of him soon. His strange second half life would end and then he could rest at last. And he could get the hell out of Talos' head. He clawed his fingers through Enzo's pale brown hair. He felt the spring of it beneath his fingers. He moved his hands to the small round ears and the smooth skin. The desire to release this form pressed against his chest. His cells began to quiver and his muscles weakened. He had been holding this face for so long he ached with the effort of it when he let his guard down. He knelt on the ground and pressed his forehead to the smooth cold floor. Enzo thrashed inside him. Disobedient. Angry. Begging to be released. Talos had to hold on. He had to breathe through the ache until his body settled again.

What would make him happy? Did he want to go look at birds?

The girl, came the answer from deep in his gut. The girl would soothe this rebellion beneath his flesh.

Impossible. We can't involve her. She is already too involved. We have to remain impartial. Woh-Lar would decide her fate.

There was another wave through him. Shuddering of his cells that threatened to release Enzo.

Fine, the girl. Only looking. No meddling.

* * *

Talos was unsure where to seek her out. He had only just begun his surveillance of Woh-Lar, he did not yet know the initmacies of their schedules. He would have to find her on his own. He knew some places she may be. With his tools strapped around his waist every door was open to him.

He checked the library first. She was not there. Enzo clawed inside him with the first failure. Talos had sweat collecting along his spine.

Woh-Lar's lecture hall was next. It was late. Classes had dwindled and he thought she wasn't there either. Until he saw a small foot stick out from behind the desk.

His heart rate increased. Had she fallen? He descended the steps quickly but quietly taking them two at a time. He stepped up and around the desk to find her sitting on the ground, one leg stuck out straight, Woh-Lar's chair upside down between her knees.

She considered the chair as if it contained all the secrets of the universe.

"What are you doing?" He asked leaning on the desk. The girl gasped and looked up. He had surprised her in her focus. Seeing who he was she rolled her eyes and relaxed. She returned to what she had been doing.

"Fixing his chair," she answered. Her cheeks were flushed as she bent forward trying to reach the bolts Talos had meddled with. Her long hair was up in a messy bun, one long coil had come free and was hanging in her eyes. She kept pushing it away from her face impatiently. He felt Enzo calm under his skin.

"Why didn't you call me?" Talos grinned down at her. Her frustration lapped at him like water on a shore. He wanted to make it grow to a wave so some part of her would wash and break over him.

"I can fix it on my own," she protested.

"And how long have you been fixing it on your own?" He asked raising an eyebrow at her. She shot him a dirty look. He looked away as he chuckled at her. He reached into the small pouch of tools hanging against his thigh and pulled out a long silver wrench. He reached out to her with it. For a moment, she only gave his hand a dismissive look but after he waved it at her once she sighed and grabbed it from his hand.

"I am not useless," she muttered through grit teeth as she manuevered the tool through the cage of springs. Talos looked at her more closely. He did not have the refined emotional empathy of some of his people. His skill lay in the physical. He saw now not just frustration but embarrassment.

"No, you're not useless," he said softer than he meant to. Kinder too. Enzo. He crouched beside her, a hesitant hand reaching out to tuck the wayward curl of hair behind her ear. "Having the wrong tool is not the same as being useless."

She turned her head and shot daggers at him with her eyes. He raised his hand in peace. She blew out a frustrated breath and put the tool down between her thighs where Talos would not dare to reach for it. She pulled the tie from her hair and the chestnut lengths of it fell to her shoulders and down her back. Talos tried to control his breath and reign in Enzo. He should do the man one last kindness and seduce the girl. Even if she was Kree. A kiss would make no difference in a millenia of war and they were not truly Talos' lips. She scraped her hair back again, her two hands gathering it more firmly in the tie.

"I am not sleeping with him," she muttered, picking the tool up and returning to the sabotaged bolts.

"What?" Talos asked. Momentarily shocked. Had the girl read his mind?

"I am not sleeping-" she huffed out the words between the tightening of one bolt. "With Professor Lar."

"Oh," Talos didn't know what else to say so he just positioned himself across from her. He turned the chair so the next bolt was in front of her. She glanced up briefly. He couldn't read the look in her eyes but he felt guilt for his more recent thoughts about her.

"So, if you think that's why I am here-" she focussed all her attention on the bolt "-it's not."

"I just thought you were very smart," Talos answered her. He turned the chair again, his body briefly leaned forward closer to her. He noticed because she looked at him again. Her eyes were an impossible colour. In some lights they were violet-grey and others a soft brown. Talos had seen them be both. He wondered if they changed colour with her emotions. If whatever hung over them at that moment was as deep in her skin as it was in Enzo's. She shook her head as if to break a spell.

"Well, tell everyone else that," She said under her breath. "And to speak quietly if they want to lie about people."

It made sense then. Talos had been hearing it all day wrapped up in the other gossip about Woh-Lar. It had annoyed him then, but seeing the dark cloud over Emerys he felt anger.

"Emerys-" he didn't know what he was going to say but all thought was cut off by her hiss of pain and the clatter of the wrench. Emerys immediately shut her eyes as a small bead of blue bubbled in the joint of her index finger. She seemed frozen, her limbs stiff and her eyes closed tight.

Talos reacted on instinct, he shuffled by her side and reached for her. She didn't resist him as he took her wrist in his hand and brought her finger to Enzo's mouth. He ran his tongue over the pinched bend of flesh, sucking the salt of her blood into his mouth. He heard her whimper and the tension leave her arm. He looked at her bowed head and closed eyes as he pressed his tongue against the soft crook of skin until he could no longer taste blood and could only taste her, Enzo's lips tight against her. She eased one eye open and peaked at him. Her iris now so violet it was almost black.

He released her hand and she took it back. She looked at the wound for an instant, still glistening from Enzo's mouth before pressing her own lips to it. She awkwardly stood, eyes fixed untrustingly on him. One hand to her lips the other straightening her skirt so the tops of her thighs were hidden from his view. He made to stand as well but she stepped back eyes wild. He sunk to his knees again.

She left the lecture hall quickly and without a word. Only as she was about to open the door did she glance back at him.

Only once she was gone did Talos realize it had been Kree blood in his mouth. And that he did not mind it.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Return

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyone reading this is a miracle and I love you for being here 💚💜💙❤DH

Talos was certain nothing Professor Woh-Lar had ever said had been worth listening to. Talos was hunkered in the back of the lecture hall, in front of him was a sea of students all their heads bobbing along to the Professor's words. Woh-Lar, when he lectured, had a light in his eyes. A man so used to being ignored that he was incandescent under scrutiny.

Emerys was there. She dutifully handed him books so he could quote and made sure his slides did not fall behind as he thumped along. She didn't seem to be the same girl she was when they were alone. She was demure. She kept her head low. Not just shy in a crowd but with the movements of humility worn smooth. Someone who was always subservient. He wondered who was the real Emerys. She had run from him the last time they met. He wondered what had scared her more, that Enzo was a man bent on seducing her or that she wanted to give into something decidedly unKree?

He smiled to himself. Congratulating Enzo on the small victory of unsettling the ice queen. He wondered how long it would take for Woh-Lar to find the planet. The council wanted him to hold off on killing him long enough they could learn the planet's location. Not that they had the means to extract Magnesite from the crust but at least they could station a satellite there to monitor the area. Talos swore if that became his next assignment he would defect.

Talos was beginning to see the benefit of befriending the Professor's assistant. She was lonely here. He could see it in her eyes when she had confided in him the night before. Lonely people were like oysters. Shut tight to the world, turning small hurts into pearls. All you had to do was ease them open and they would be soft, giving, defenceless. And they would taste like seawater he thought with a grin as the same troublesome lock fell in Emerys' eyes again.

Talos waited as the class filed out and Woh-Lar collected his datapad. He left Emerys with a table of books splayed haphazardly open to different pages. Talos slipped down the stairs again as the girl started to close and pile the dusty tomes. She was dangerously unobservant.

"I think he only uses those old things to look cultured," Talos whispered to her from a few stairs away. Emerys' eyes darted up at him. She didn't smile but she didn't look annoyed.

"We are lucky to have original sources here. We should take advantage of them," she answered him blithely, returning to stacking the books.

"He doesn't help carrying them though, does he?"

She didn't look at him. Talos sauntered closer and pulled one of the stacks close to him.

"What are you doing?"

"Helping you carry them."

"Do all the maintenance staff hover around lecture halls so they can help carry books?" She asked him reaching for the stack he claimed, bending her body over the desk. He wondered if the view she gave him was intentional as the silk of her blouse fluttered and he could see clearly where the column of her throat curved to meet her sternum. Her hand was on top of the worn leather cover. He grabbed it in his own.

"I see they managed to save the whole hand," he grinned at her as he turned her wrist to see the small mark where the blood had been.

"I thought you were here to carry books," she retorted stealing her hand back. She still wouldn't look at him. Apparently Enzo liked women who were as nervous as birds. Talos thought of the woman in the hood. She would be too much for Enzo.

"I am happy to be of service," he answered jauntily. Pulling the stack of heavy books into his arms.

"Are you sure?" she came around the desk boldly now his hands were full and placed another book on top.

"Yes," Talos met her eyes as she watched his face putting another book on his pile. His stack was growing as hers was shrinking.

"So kind of you, when the library is so far," she smiled at him. It was wicked. Unlike the Emerys he saw in the lecture hall. Talos grimaced as she dropped the last heavy book on the stack from high enough it bounced and threatened to slip off.

Pleased he was adequately loaded she adjusted the strap on her bag, grabbed her own stack and led the way to the library.

She walked quickly with her small arm load of books, her pleated skirt flashed and fluttered around her legs as colourful as a butterfly. She would glance over her shoulder every once in a while to see if he was still following her. He was. Loaded with books, his arms aching but following her still.

"Having trouble keeping up?" She asked behind her, this time when she looked over her shoulder there was something in her eyes. Something that made Enzo's heart beat a little faster.

"Just enjoying the view," he called back. She slowed her walk one hand self-consciousnessly smoothing her skirt.

"You aren't allowed to look at me," she answered him, turning to walk backwards.

"What if I get lost without my guide?" He held her eyes and her steps slowed as she continued to walk backwards. He was gaining on her.

"You know this place better than I do," she raised an eyebrow at him. He could see over her shoulder there was about to be a class let out. A swarm of students hovering at the door like the imminent breaking of a dam.

"Watch out," he jogged two steps letting the books fall back against his shoulder as he reached for her elbow. She looked surprised as he pulled her close and waves of bodies like eager fish darted around them.

"I saw them," she protested not looking up at him as they were jostled together. He took his hand back to steady the precious stack of books, worth more than Enzo's job.

"Of course you did. You were just in the mood for being trampled," he whispered to her as the last of the students filed around them. She shot daggers at him and once they were alone again she took off even faster towards the library.

He caught up with her as she was laying the books on the return cart. He tried not to look like the exertion had tired him. He was growing soft in this post. She began to take the books from his arms and load them onto the cart. His muscles screamed at him even as his load lessened. Once he was mostly unloaded he began to move the stacks himself. Their hands touched when they fell out of rhythm, her hair had fallen forward again and she hid behind it.

"Thank you," she murmured pushing her hair back from her face.

"Is that all of them?" He asked as she adjusted the strap on her bag.

"Of course," she nodded brushing passed him to escape the library. Talos watched her go, her bag knocking against her thighs. She should learn not to move so quickly. It made him want to chase her.

* * *

The concrete floor of his room dug into his knees as he knelt in front of the mirror. He had bit the bullet and told the Council. There had been silence on the other end of the line.

"General, we on the Council are not in the habit of evoking the name of the Ulohmu lightly. What makes you think there is any value to this intel?" The calm voice of the Speaker ask him. Talos grit his teeth. He knew this question was coming but he still resented it. He resented it because he didn't trust the info. Some weak part of him didn't care. He wanted off this planet and out of this mission.

"It isn't so much I value the intel-" Talos spoke to his knees, he tilted his head back and forth trying to make his words convincing. He didn't want to look up and see Enzo's thin face and pale eyes saying these lies to the Council. He didn't think Enzo was the lying type. He picked at his maintenance uniform. "What I believe is someone impersonating the Ulohmu is just as dangerous as the group themselves. If they are committing acts in our name-"

"It is not our name." The Speaker cut him off angrily. Talos bit his cheek.

"With all due respect, our enemies have never tried to separate us. We cannot act as if they are not part of us."

"The Ulohmu are as much an enemy of the Skrull Empire as the Kree. Do not let yourself be misled by the foolish talk of students." The Speaker spoke as if Talos was a new foot soldier. As if he did not know his trade. He had been naive to bring them anything less than the head of the leader.

"I understand." He knew they could not see him but he bent forward anyway, his forehead resting on the diamond of his hands. Humility was not about the receiver. He could feel the fractures. He could feel the pull of recklessness. The Council were all he had to reign in his destructive desires. The Skrulls were spread too thin. They were lone markers on a map that spanned the galaxy and the Council were the only ones that held the full picture.

"Focus on your mission. Defend us from further Kree destruction. Be strong, General." The Speaker's voiced eased. They knew when to apply the whip and when to heal. "The light of Skrullos still burns."

"The light of Skrullos still burns," he answered into the echo of his hands. He heard the connection close and the blue light that wavered over the mirror disappeared from the floor in front of him. Only then did he straighten, rolling his head side to side, stretching the muscles in Enzo's neck and shoulders.

There was little choice then but continue his mission.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trespassing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> iend.i posted late last night and this morning. Make sure you dont get lost. Please let me know what you think. I am so curious ❤💜💚💙DH

It became their small habit, Talos would slip into the lecture hall and watch Woh-Lar bluster then he would help Emerys carry the books back to the library. He wondered if she realized as every lecture drew to an end that her eyes began scanning the crowd for him. That was her only concession. She did not linger once the books were returned. She barely spoke to him as they walked. She was an island and he was trapped at sea. Every way he approached her he found crags blocking his landing.

Woh-Lar was a different story. As the weeks wore on he was becoming distracted. His lectures on occasion so disjointed they were no more than a string of ravings held together by Emerys' quiet helpful presence. Talos wondered if he was coming closer to the answer. If that was true, his time for quiet observation was coming to an end. Emerys gave him no clues.

So he broke the projector again. He stole in at night and removed the cuff he had placed there weeks ago. The download could take hours and he would not have time to replace it before Woh-Lar's lectures began again so he scrambled the wires. It was purely by luck he was hidden under the desk when he heard the door open. He wished Enzo was shorter as he slowly pulled his feet in and curled his whole body in the space under the desk.

"Did she say she would come here?" The first voice asked. Talos froze as still as a statue. It was one of the boneheads.

"She has no choice if she wants the Tech. I told her I wouldn't do a credit transfer between planets they are too easy to fake." The kid sounded pleased with himself.

"You finally are learning this spy business, Brother." Talos rolled his eyes as he was trapped under the desk. Children playing war were more dangerous than the actual war.

"I told you, I learned my lesson last time."

"They must really want it if they are willing to travel the star system for it."

"I told you it is good tech."

Talos had to bite his tongue to stop from scoffing. He felt sweat pour down Enzo's spine at the thought that soon a member of the rebel force would be in front of him. He felt the familiar tightness of his skin that came with being close to danger. He hadn't felt this in tune for so long, his senses dulled by his repetitive mission.

He heard the door open and the boasting of the boys fell silent. His ears pricked up and he willed Enzo's hearing to be as good as a Skrull's.

"You?" One student spoke up, recognizing the face that had come to meet him.

"Me?" They responded scoffing. "Have you forgotten who you are dealing with? You have not earned my true face."

The voice made Talos' blood freeze and pump painfully through his heart. Why had they picked her? Had these idiots really stumbled onto the actual Ulohmu? His body ached with the effort of staying concealed. He was weaponless, trapped if they should search the room. It would be a mistake not to. An experienced operative would want to sweep the area. He braced against the desk ready to aim a kick into the jaw whoever came looking. Preparing that it could be Emerys' face he had to put his boot to.

"I have never seen a Skrull sim before," the cynical one added. There was an edge of begrudging respect to his voice. "I would believe you were her."

"That's the point," the woman said, her tone cool and impatient. Something in Talos curdled. How could a fellow Skrull present their skill as merely a facet of deception? It was a larger betrayal of their race than any action of the Ulohmu. "Do you have the device?"

"Do you have the credits?" The fool asked his voice full of false bravado. Part of Talos longed for the traitor to simply kill him and take the device.

"We agreed only one of you would come," she answered him. "I am not the one being deceitful."

Talos grinned despite himself beneath the desk. Perhaps that had been the plan.

"I am the real deal. The device is here," the kid bragged. Talos tensed. The idiot had no idea how poorly things were going for him. She was playing him like a rookie.

"Prove it works," Emerys' voice challenged him. Talos heard the clicking of a device being opened and felt the pressure of a heavy frequency filling the space. It was intense when you were in the room with it. He felt his cells quiver. He wondered if it was disrupting the functions of his body. What had these lunatics stumbled into? He tensed desperately clinging to Enzo.

"Impressed?" The older boy drawled. Clearly he understood no better than his friend.

"Very," she answered her voice tight. He heard the click of a communicator being engaged, "come get them."

"Hey what are you-" he was cut off by the doors opening. Talos heard boots descending the stairs. There was the hot zip of blaster bolts and the smell of sizzling flesh. The frequency stopped and the sick feeling that had enveloped Talos settled. Enzo shrunk back to his skin. He tried to hold back his panting, he was out manned and out gunned. He felt the ripple through the air of forms being taken. A power he had not sensed in so long. Something ancient and lonely in him sang with it. He wanted to crawl from beneath the table and lay eyes on his brethern, even if they wore the face of another.

There was a sound of heaving weights and boots on the stairs. Talos forced himself to still. He heard one pair pause on the stairs and that was when he felt it, an empath reaching out. Their power moved through the room like smoke, seeking out something to latch onto. Talos reigned in his emotions, shut himself down as his mother had trained him. He didn't even breath for fear of pulling it into his lungs.

The other boots stilled. The voice of the younger boy spoke, panting under his load. "Soren, let's go."

The air cleared and the boots faded. Talos stayed hidden for a while longer. Unwilling to move from his place. When he at last crawled from beneath the desk he felt like an animal pushing out of an egg, fragile and unsure of his surroundings. Part of him was expecting to find her waiting for him, pistol trained on his heart. Part of him would have welcomed it.

* * *

Talos lay in his cot, heart thumping and body numb. It had been hours. He had sent the contents of the cuff piecemeal through his commlink to the Council. He only moved to open and close the channel as necessary before returning to his bed and staring unseeing to the ceiling. He knew he had evidence now. He could confirm those dead fools had unearthed the true Ulohmu. That he had hid beneath the desk as they killed students. He could go to the Council but he didn't. Instead he let himself drown in all the unknown pieces. He had not even seen their faces. In the mass of students he couldn't say which had been replaced by his backstabbing brothers in arms. He could not say who the woman was who had taken Emerys' face. Inaction pooled around him. Failure.

When he focused his eyes enough to glance at the stolen information from Woh-Lar's data pad it was nothing but ramblings. He rolled over and let the Council sort through it. They had the scientists to translate for them.

The report came through before dawn. Terse and to the point. Woh-Lar and his assistant were closing in on a planet with enough magnesite beneath the crust to destroy the last of their colonies. They would be arming the Accusers with enough firepower to level a planet. If Talos did not stop them.  
He sat on the edge of his bed, when he closed his eyes he could still see the report. He ran his hands through Enzo's hair and tried to picture Emerys killing those boys, see her blithely circling on a star map the mines that held the key to their destruction. Tried to harden Enzo's heart to the truths he would have to pull from between her teeth before he killed Woh-Lar and maybe even her.

Enzo's stomach was weak with it and he emptied his guts before he finally let Talos sleep.

* * *

He lay on his back again. She didn't trip over him this time. Like a trusting doe she stepped one foot between his legs, their legs bracketing each other as she unloaded her books. He felt her steps before he saw her. He reacted rashly the suspicions from the night before clouding his head. Was she the Kree aiding the destruction of his people or the Skrull woman who undermined the efforts if the Council? Could he forgive either one of them? He bent his knee, bringing his heel in line with hers. Trapping her leg in the crook of his own. He felt her freeze, heard above him the shift of heavy books stop as he pressed into her. Woh-Lar droned on. He wondered if any of the students looked over if they would see the way he was tangled about her. If she had panicked, tried to step away he would have let her. He felt the wound in Enzo's soft heart tighten. His eyes had read the same reports Talos had. His ears had heard the same deadly conversation. He wanted the truth from her own mouth as far as he could believe it. He sat up ducking his body as best he could beneath the desk, curled as tightly as he had been the night before.

She always wore such pretty skirts. From the outside she was all soft as rose petals it was only when you tried to get close you felt the thorns. He was close to her now, his leg wrapped around hers, squeezing her slightly so she knew he knew he had caught her. The sounds above the desk had resumed. He wished he could see the look on her face as she tried to remain still. He shifted his body his heel sliding a little further away from hers, pressure easing and escape entirely possible but she stayed rooted to the spot. He reached out and brushed the back of his fingers on the soft skin inside her knee. He smiled as her leg twitched, her knees instinctively wanting to close but meeting the resistance of his thigh. Woh-Lar had to be wondering what was taking so long, why the tinkering had stopped. Except his voice droned on. The students had stopped watching him as soon as the projector failed to turn on. Bold. In front of people. The best way to not get caught. He turned his hand and pressed Enzo's palm to the soft swell above her knee. The delicate connection where strong muscles and tendons met. This was the farthest Enzo had been with a girl and Talos could feel his heart be sick with it. Emerys made a small sound as he slid fingers incrementally higher tracing the long muscle between her thighs. She twitched again and he could feel the shadow beneath his palm of her twisting body. He knew she was looking at Woh-Lar to see if he could see his assistant was frozen at the desk, a hand moving up her skirt. He could feel her softening, as touch starved as Enzo. He wondered how high she would let his fingers move.

"Emerys is he almost finished with the projector?" Woh-Lar's impatient voice broke the spell. Talos moved quickly back to the wires, straightening his body as if he had never been curled around Emerys' knees.

"Almost," she all but stuttered stepping away from him. Talos grinned as he slipped the cuff back around the nest of wires unscrambling them so the projector whirred to life.

He caught Emerys' dark look as he slid beneath the desk. He wondered if she was angry at him for the trespass or at her body for allowing it. He winked at her before slipping from the stage. He would be back at the end of the day to carry her books. She could punish him then.

* * *

The slap stung but a grin still cracked through the serious look he tried to school on his face. She looked like she wanted to strike him again. If she did he would have caught her hand and twisted it neatly behind her back. As if her eyes read his intention she stepped away from him.

"That good, eh?" He asked running his hand over the red mark blossoming on Enzo's jaw. Emerys looked so mad she could spit.

"You aren't allowed to touch me," she sputtered at him. Except Enzo was no longer in charge, Talos had taken over and this was no longer something that could be handled softly. She must have felt it, the change, the hardening resolve. He couldn't be patient if someone was using her voice to make deals on behalf of the Ulohmu. He couldn't trust he knew who she really was, shifting changing Emerys.

"I will remember that if you will." He answered her sliding the books across the desk.

"I don't want your help today," she reached for the books. "In fact, I don't want to see you again."

He let her take the stack from him. Let her hand brush over his as she stole the books back.

"No? Am I no use to you now, Emerys?" He asked stepping closer to her. Her arms full of books she didn't want to put down.

"You have never been of use to me," she answered dodging around him.

"Not even as a scapegoat?"

"I don't know what you mean," she tried to pass him but he caught her arm. She could always get away. He would never pin her to one place but he knew she was as frozen by the smallest touch. Hesitant to break away. Enzo's loneliness called to her whether she would admit it or not.

"Do you think because of who I am, where I come from I can't count?" He asked eying the stack of books that never seemed to match the number that reached the library. His voice low and dangerous. She pulled away from him a wary look in her eyes.

"I don't pretend to know you," she said with a voice full of ice. "And you shouldn't pretend to know me."

She left him then, skirt fluttering, her pink skin flushed. He wouldn't chase her today but Emerys was right if she thought the games between them were at an end.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mud

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everyone ready for some intrigue???
> 
> Thank you for your comments on a small story they really mean everything  
❤💜💙💚DH

Talos knew she wouldn't be happy to see him, but somehow that made it sweeter for him. He lived as happily in her disdain as other men might live in her mercy. She had requested assistance for a sample gathering expedition down the hill from the University. Enzo had been selected but as the Rhondarian head of maintenance grinned at him he wondered if perhaps he was exactly who she requested not to come.

He was suspicious of it. With his eyes far in the stars he wondered why Woh-Lar would care about the soil beneath his feet. Talos was worried that perhaps he was sending her away because he had drawn closer to an answer. While they were camped out beneath the stars, Woh-Lar could be signing Talos' people's death warrant. And yet this trip could be valuable time to find out about the Professor. And Enzo was excited.

When he walked out into the sunny courtyard he felt like a man walking free from a dungeon. He sheltered his eyes against the bright sunlight and breathed in the air. She was standing by the heavily-tired Scaler. She was directing box after box into the back of the buggy.

"We are only gone a week, what do you need all that for?" Talos called out. Emerys looked up at him with fire in her violet brown eyes.

"What are you doing here?" She asked taking in his thick pants, dark but stained with mud, and his heavy jacket. He ignored her and stepped up onto the tailgate to peer into the canvas covered dome.

"You asked for assistance." He whistled surveying the inside.

"Not from you," she answered tugging the back of his coat so he stepped off the metal rim. More workers loaded boxes in the back.

"You'll overload this thing."

"I can throw you out and get rid of the dead weight." Emerys had murder in her eyes. Talos grinned at her taking a step towards her so she took a step back her calves hitting the back rim of the Scaler. She looked down at their feet before looking back up at him.

"And are you going to dig all that dirt with those slim hands of yours?" He glanced down her body. There was something more alluring about the tight hide leggings she wore and the loose linen shirt than all the silk and fluttering skirts in the world.

"I can dig," she answered his heated look with a set chin.

"Then this should be a relaxing trip for me," he grinned at her and walked towards the driver's side.

"I can drive, too" she called to him. He ignored her as he pulled his body into the open side of the all-terrain vehicle.

He stuck his head out to look at her, "that sounds less relaxing."

When at last they were loaded, Emerys came around to the passenger side. She threw her leather satchel in and pulled herself up.

"Is that all you are bringing?" Talos raised his eyebrows at her.

"Yes," she didn't look at him as she programmed their coordinates into the datapad.

"So, what's all that?" He nodded his head to tve overstuffed back. "No summer wardrobe? Credenza?"

She rolled her lovely eyes as she looked at him. "It's equipment. I need the right tools, remember?"

He grinned at her as he started the engine and the scaler wobbled to life. "I do remember."

* * *

The Scaler moved in a strange rolling walking way. It had eight tires, each on a free mounted axel like a spine so the vehicle moved like a bending stalk over all the dips and rocks on the path through the forest. There was mostly silence between them as Talos kept the Scaler on course and Emerys read her datapad. The Scaler was for the most part automated but as their terrain changed with the whims of nature and the rolling of stones it required some skill to stop the pigheaded machine from rolling them down the steep hillside.

It was a bumpy ride. Emerys kept her body curled away from him, one foot braced on the open frame of the vehicle. Her body jostled back and forth, every once in awhile Talos would glance over to watch her swaying, Enzo liked how the linen twisted around her.

"Stop looking at me," Emerys grit out eventually. She didn't turn to see if she was right she just trusted the heat she felt on her was Talos' gaze. He was looking at her. His eyes turned back to the path ahead but he smiled at her annoyance.

"Doesn't it make you sick?" He asked, his voice a little too loud to make up for the thumping of the tires.

"You looking at me? Yes," she answered him, her voice low where his had been loud. He leaned back against the seat so their heads were closer together.

"I meant reading with all the shaking," he clarified. She ignored him for a moment, before sighing and turning off the datapad. She sat back straight in her seat, her face in profile. She breathed out slowly through her nose with her eyes closed. She tucked her booted feet up on the dash.

"See? Makes you sick," he glanced over at her. The sun was peaking through small green leaves of the trees and making pretty shadows on her face.

"You put the idea in my head." She kept her eyes closed as the vehicle continued to jostle her back and forth. Talos adjusted their speed slightly so the trees whipped by slower.

"You should take a break anyway. All that science can't be good for your brain." He was teasing her. She rolled her shoulders into the squishy padding of the seat. She smiled a little bit and Talos gripped the wheel tighter.

"You assume it was a book on what? Mud? Rocks?" She glanced over at him with narrowed eyes. He knew her mouth was twitching.

"Do you have other interests?" He asked her ironically, feigning shock in his voice and rolling his head to look at her, one hand on the wheel. He knew Enzo's blue eyes would catch the sunlight. He knew she noticed by the way she looked nervously at her hands.

"Of course, no one lives for just one thing."

"Some people do," he said more to himself than her. The silence that met him was unnerving. He coughed. "All right Miss Useful and Educated what was your book about."

Emerys reclined lower in her seat, her boots leaving dust higher on the dash. She grinned at him.

"Our secret?" She asked and he raised his eyebrow at her.

"That bad?" She narrowed her eyes at him. The cab of the Scaler felt closer, more intimate as their bodies swayed in unison.

Emerys fiddled with her cuffs and closed her eyes, letting out a slow breath so her chest sunk closer to her knees. When she did speak her voice was softer, lower like the brush of a hand through velvet.

"I call on you, Aerjilah, that shapes and bends,  
To stand from your river bed and take up my hands  
My hands once grasped, so plunged into the dark waters of your bank  
Pull forth from the bulk, weight of weary tale  
To press upon my body the endless slick of brine and floc of heroes past  
Shape from my heart the tale of land lost and rivers dry  
Craft from me a vessel to hold what overflows from time beyond when I bend."

Her words drifted off, as she spoke her one finger had traced her knuckle over over again as if she held the words of the poem beneath her skin.

Talos knew about poetry. All of Skrull history existed in poem. Long tales drilled into their heads for safe keeping. He had never heard of a Kree who liked poetry. There was a tense breath in the air, as if Emerys was expecting judgement from him.

"It's a pretty poem," Talos quirked his lip at her. "Even if it is about mud."

She gave a small shocked laugh and pushed his shoulder. He laughed as he swayed harder with her shove.

"Careful I am driving," he shoved blindly back at her shoulder.

"You are barely driving," she corrected him. She looked at her fingernails again. "You know nothing about poetry. That poem is very long and very old."

"Does that make it good?"

"It makes it important. It means someone wrote it down somewhere," she answered him with a superior pout to her lips. Talos kept his eyes on the road and fought the urge to tell her that was not the measure of an important thing. It was that someone remembered. That they wanted to remember.

Besides when she moved her lips like that Enzo wanted to kiss her.

He squinted against the sun and tried to peak at the tree line to see how far they had travelled down the high hill the University sat upon. He spoke quietly as he looked. Deep words he hadn't said in many years but lived in him like a useless organ. An appendix ready to rot. He wanted to say them now in the small space he and Emerys had found in the silent war between them.

"Carved from the green green grass and the chalk of bone,  
Felled like oaks that did stride across fields with their brazen temperament  
The shape that holds like water  
E'er changes its face to meet its maker.  
So was made man and beast to one of divine creation."

Emerys was looking at him like she had never seen him before.

"Where did you learn that?" She asked with a tight voice. Enzo had surprised her.

He couldn't tell her, of course. The he had learned it at their haphazard school huddled in the slums where he had grown up. Before Zendinar burned. His final days of formal education. That he could say those words before he could write his name.

"I read it in a book. I found it in some dark and damp corner of the library and it stuck I guess," he looked over and smiled easily at her. She rolled her eyes and shaded them from the sun that was now bouncing across her face. "You know me. Never where I am supposed to be."

She nodded, "I am familiar with your inappropriate library habits."

She turned from him and closed her eyes again. It didn't take long before her rocking body was asleep.

Talos wondered as the light moved over her, how long it had been since someone slept beside him?

* * *

They made camp at the base of the hill. Talos had hopped out the open side of the cab, glancing at his silent companion, still curled up asleep even though they had come to a stop. He would be on his own to build camp it seemed. He stretched his stiff back as he came around the hot hood of the Scaler. He was glad they had found a clearing as the metal beast required sunlight to stay charged. It had been shady on the hillside path. The sun was already setting. He couldn't delay making their camp. He came around Emerys' side and considered waking her. There was something so peaceful about her face when she slept.

He reached for her bag nestled between her feet. Just as he shifted it a small pale hand struck out and gripped his wrist tight. He turned his head to see her wary eyes watching him. It seemed the truce was at an end.

"Easy, just unloading to make camp," he said in a gentling voice, as if he was coaxing a skittish beast rather than a woman. She relaxed and released his hand.

"You should have woken me up," she said as she grabbed her bag and slid from the high vehicle. She was close to him, her body trapped between the Scaler and him.

"We just got here. I figured you would want camp set up before dark. In case you get scared." He gave her a wicked smile before going to unload the gear.

"I can take care of myself," she answered hiking her bag higher on her shoulder.

Talos put one foot on the tailgate and pulled himself up in the buggy. Not much had shifted during travel. Owing mostly to the fact it was all well-crated and secured. He sifted through the back. Not seeing what he was looking for he started muttering under his breath.

"Something wrong?" Emerys asked from the soft needle-covered ground.

"I can only find one tent," Talos called from the back of the buggy. He braced himself for her panick or anger.

"There is only one," she called back a soft curve of laughter in her voice.

"Why would you only bring one tent?" He growled as he leaned out back to talk to her.

"More room for equipment," she shrugged. She shaded her eyes from the burning orange of the sunset that painted her an even prettier pink. "Why are you scared, Enzo?"

She didn't wait to hear his reply. She pulled out a commlink from her bag and began pacing for a signal. No doubt reporting in to her precious Professor Woh-Lar.

* * *

They didn't speak much for the rest of the evening. They worked beside each other to set up the small canvas tent and two low cots, pressed as far away as possible from each other against the waxy walls.

As it grew dark Emerys climbed into the back to find the rations box, a light clasped in her hand. She handed tight sealed packages down from their buggy. Each pretended not to notice when their hands brushed.

After dinner was done, Emerys boiled water from the nearby stream and washed her face and hands. Talos tried not to notice the way water dripped translucent spots down her white shirt and stuck to pale skin. He also tried not to notice how perfectly her shadow was cast when she went to the small tent. The way her arms crossed over her body and pulled her shirt away. The way she curved as she bent forward to loosen her boot laces. The fluttering of her pajamas as she pulled them on.

Talos gripped his metal cup of brandy and told himself it was too early for bed when the fire was still so high and the stars were so beautiful.

When the fire burned low and he was certain she was asleep Talos crept into the tent, ducking to fit through tight opening. He glanced at Emerys curled up tight beneath her blankets. He shrugged out of his jacket and took off his boots. He rolled the leather tight and tucked it over the neatly lined up boots. He looked over at Emerys one more time before unbuttoning his shirt and slipping it off his shoulders. His singlet clung to the sweat low in his back but he didn't dare remove anymore layers. He slid beneath the cold covers of his cot and hoped sleep came quickly.

His first clue something was wrong was how well he slept. How calm he was. A bone seeping calm so foreign it roused him from his sleep. He opened his eyes and breathed in deeply. It settled heavy over him like blanket. So smooth with unending edges he thought he would choke. He glanced at Emerys who was as tucked up asleep as before. He strained his ears to hear a sound through the crushing, deafening silence.

His heart was fighting against his instincts. Beating low and deep but each pump poisoned by aching adrenaline.

A twig snapped.

Talos sat up not stopping for his boots. He crouched on the ground and shuffled to the door. He parted it slightly with two fingers, his eyes scanning the dark that was blacker than black for some clue. The fire embers were low and the stars were so bright the sky seemed overwhelmed with pinpricks.

He thought he heard movement.

There was a creak.

On instinct his arm flashed behind him, grabbing for a throat. Hands caught his lightning fist and he saw in the dim light Emerys' wide eyes, her pale hands wrapped around his fist like a prayer.

"Enzo, what is it?" She whispered looking stricken.

"Nothing, just stay here." He pulled his hand from her grip and started to move in his low crouch out of the tight door. Emerys' hand gripped his arm.

"No, tell me what you are doing," she ordered him, her chin set in a defiant line.

"I think there is someone out there."

"Then you can't go out." She tightened her grip.

"It's okay," he said to her gently. More patient than he felt. He was certain now he heard whispers in the dark and the shifting of crates.

"It's not."

"That equipment is worth more than my life," he said with a lopsided smile. He tried to pry her fingers from him one by one.

"It's not." She said again her hand slipped down his arm to entwine around his fingers. Enzo's brain stuttered.

Just then the fire roared to life as someone knocked the brandy bottle into it. It flared bright orange for only a second but Talos was able to see a body cry out in pain as he ripped nightvision goggles from his eyes.

Talos took a crouched step back, placing his body more thoroughly between Emerys and the door.

Everything began moving fast. Shuffling became scampering. Voices raised. Talos could count at least four different ones. The lights from a cruiser kicked on and the thrusters started. Wind shook the camp as the bright lights turned their shadows into puppets across the canvas.

"That's the last of it." A voice called in the darkness and boots scuffed up the needles as he ran passed the tent towards their ship.

"Soren, where are you?" An anxious voice whispered in the dark. Talos froze. It was the Ulohmu without question.

"We have no time throw it and leave," a woman's voice like low stirring of leaves called back, her slim body in perfect silhouette against the canvas.

There was a hiss and something metal flew into the tent. It spewed white smoke and sputtered menacingly. On instinct, Talos pushed Emerys back so she fell against her cot. He grabbed his jacket and threw it over the gas grenade. He held it like a sack of rotting fruit and hurled it out the door. The acrid smoke it left behind hung high in the air collecting in the pitch of the tent.

"Stay low," he commanded reaching across the small tent for her wrist and pulling her to the ground, his free hand over his nose.

Emerys hit the ground with a protesting whump. Talos army crawled towards her.

"Stay here," he told her. He was going to try and take a straggler. The cruiser still hovered in the area. The last of the take off preparations happening just across the clearing.

"Don't leave me," Emerys pleaded rolling on her side. Her hand already reaching for him.

"It will be okay," he told her his head bent low so she could hear him over the chaos.

She moved so fast he couldn't be sure her intention until he felt her mouth press against him and her hand knotted up in his singlet. In the dark she missed and caught only the corner of his lips. Talos felt his elbows buckle slightly with the intense sensation of touch. It had been so long he grunted as her other hand tipped his jaw so her mouth seated more firmly against him. Hesitant teeth scraping against Enzo's lower lip. He should pull away but her shaking hand followed his jaw tracing the sensitive shell of his ear and instead he found his mouth opening to her.

Outside the ship roared away and in the tent the gas drifted lower.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author chose not to leave a note

Talos woke with the sun beating through the roof of the tent. He was lying on his back on the ground and the bright white light was digging into his eye balls. His chest was tight and his head pounded. His memories from the night before were sparse. He remembered panic, his and others and running boots. He remembered the acrid smoke of the gas cannister and he remembered the tight tracing of a small hand on his jaw. A warm mouth and the embarrassing desperation for oblivion. Then actual oblivion.

Judging by his dodgy memories and the fact he was only just now waking up the cannister must have had knock out gas. He recognized the shape from one of his previous assignments. He had moved among protesters on Rhondar. Those silver cannisters had been flung hissing into crowds of Rhondarians by the mine overseers. Anyone who got a lungful would be knocked out and arrested. Easy crowd control. He wondered vaguely through his pounding head where the Ulohmu had come across them. The fact that Emerys should be next to him finally chipped through the granite of his brain and he reached groping fingers across the rough drop sheet searching for her.

He rolled to his side and saw the empty space next to him. There was not even a depression in the canvas to show where she had been. He groaned as he pulled his body up. His brain had too much water in it. Black thick murky water that sloshed from his sinuses down to his gut. Talos paused half sitting up and negotiated with Enzo's stomach not to be sick. As the feeling ebbed he rolled all the way up and sludge floated around his shaky knees.

As he slipped from the tent he was vaguely aware of movement and shuffling. He looked about, breathing in the cool clean forest air and feeling the fog lift more. Emerys was moving between the buggy and the camp shifting broken crates. Her linen shirt slung over the back of the Scaler, her body surprisingly firm beneath her singlet.

"You're up," she observed climbing up onto the tailgate. Talos rubbed his head. He walked closer ot survey the damage, his back was stiff from a night on the ground.

"You could have woken me," he said, groaning as he stretched his body.

"You assume I didn't try?" She said looking down at him from the buggy. She braced her arms against the frame and raised an eyebrow at him. "You are so heavy I could barely shift you off of me last night."

Talos grinned at her and as if the meaning of her words struck her she turned quickly back to her work. A blush creeping up her neck.

"What did they get?"

"Pretty much everything," she answered. Her voice calm. Resolute. She threw him a silver foiled package from beneath a crate and he caught it against his body with unsure fingers. "Looks like they left us breakfast."

* * *

Their journey up the steep path was harder than the way down, their bodies tipped back and the jostling seemed more precarious. Emerys was silent, her grip white knuckled on the frame of the Scaler. She seemed lost in thought.

On a whim, Talos reached for the hand fidgeting against her thigh. It felt familiar in a different way now that she had traced Enzo's skin. She had been so concerned for him in a way no one had before. Possibly in his whole life. When there had been danger in his life there was always the voice of his people urging him forward. Either to run from the fire or into it depending on the mission. No one had ever begged him to stay safe. No one had ever valued his life above the objective.

"Enzo," she murmured. She didn't look at him as she unknotted their hands. In fact she turned away and watched the climbing of the tree line. Talos smiled bitterly to himself clenching his hand to shake the feeling of her from him before gripping the wheel again. He let out a small breath that was almost a laugh as he argued with Enzo not to be mad at her rejection. She was just a scared little Kree girl and she had done something she regretted.

The silence between them was thick. The twisting line of her body so tense Talos thought she would vibrate if he pressed a hand to her.

"What will Woh-Lar say?" He asked her curled up body. She looked forward for a moment worrying her lip. Tension, awkwardness they were almost as effective as trust and desire for shaking loose truths. Nature abhorred a vacuum. Especially when the shape that needed to be filled was that of two bodies twined around each other. He wondered if she had replayed the kiss again in her mind and agonized over the small sounds he had swallowed before the world became darkness.

"Professor Lar will accept the situation and arrange for a replacement of the equipment," she said with a tight voice. She was nervous despite her certainty.

"Is that all? No yelling? No lectures?" He looked at her as they swayed, willed her with Enzo's blue eyes to turn back and look at him.

"We Kree are logical. We don't waste energy on facts. The Skrulls attacked us. They stole from us. These will be easy truths for Professor Lar to accept."

Talos resisted the urge to tighten his hands on the wheel or tell her about what it truly meant to steal something from someone. The Kree had stolen his home and not even had the decency to inhabit the planet. They had burned it to ash and left it just so the Skrulls could not have it. That was theft. Taking Emerys' equipment was petty survival.

"How do you know they were Skrulls?" He asked keeping his voice level as he piloted the Scaler away from fallen tree branches. They had churned so many broken branches into the mud Talos was certain the Ulohmu ship had battered the treeline in its hasty take off.

Emerys shrugged, glancing at him briefly before looking back out at the trees. "I thought I recognized the shape through the tent. The ears give it away but even so it doesn't matter. Saying it was Skrulls will get our equipment replaced faster."

Bile rose in Talos' throat at her nonchalant damming of his people. It choked him even more she was right. He thought briefly of pulling the Scaler to the side of the path, closing the hardened space between them and coaxing her body to soften to him. It would be a twisted triumph to be warming her flesh one moment then leering over her in his true form the next. Shock the little Kree girl with her own forbidden desires.

He swallowed the dark thought. He let it flutter away in the wind, keeping Enzo's shoulders relaxed against the seat, his lips quirked in mild concern. Soft weak Enzo. Pliant obedient Enzo. And the hard headed girl he had fooled. Emerys shifted her thighs beside him, the smooth hide of her leggings making a shushing sound as she moved. Talos could almost believe she knew the direction of his thoughts and she was heated by it. He grinned to himself. She wasn't as well guarded as she thought.

* * *

There was some hub-bub around campus from their adventure. Not only had the icy Kree girl spent a night in the forest with a lowly maintenance worker but their camp had been raided by blood hungry Skrulls.

Imaginations ran wild as Talos swept down the halls listening to muttered conversation. To his detriment people were beginning to see Enzo. His presence moved their mouths to tell the story of the Skrull attack. With each passing day the Skrulls grew more barbaric and he grew more brave. By the close of the week the Student Body would have Emerys tied to a bed post squirming in a transparent nightgown with a Skrull looming over her that Enzo ran through with his shovel.

He wondered if in that telling he would remain conscious long enough to part her willing but trembling thighs.

It may amuse him but on a professional level it was risky. He could not wait much longer for Woh-Lar to complete his research.

Emerys for her part had avoided him like a plague since their return. Whenever he remained after class she gathered books quickly and took off before he could make his way down the stairs. It became so comically sudden that even Woh-Lar noticed as she began to stack and fidget before his lecture drew to a close.

She left so quickly by week's end that Talos was left alone with Woh-Lar. He always left first but now his flighty assistant had thoroughly abandoned him. He chuckled as he watched Enzo dutifully collect the books she had left for him.

"Sounds like you and my little Emerys had quite an adventure," he observed, laughing a little at the distance sound of Emerys letting the door slam.

"Yes we did," Talos answered trying to grin harmlessly despite the casual way Woh-Lar referred to his assistance. "I am sorry about the equipment."

The older man brushed off his apology. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows and he wore clothes of an era before Talos' generation. Slimmer cut with braces to keep them in place. His forearms were well muscled and his greying hair made him look distinguished rather than old. Talos wondered how many of his students had a crush on him.

"She said you were very brave."

Talos batted away the praise, running a bashful hand through Enzo's hair.

"I don't know about that," he muttered.

"Nonsense. You did well against the Skrull Vermin. They are a plague after all." Woh-Lar encouraged him affably. "Soon though. Soon the universe will be different and we can all sleep soundly."

"I would like that, Professor," Talos mururmed keeping Enzo's head ducked hoping his tightening grip on the books came off as nerves at speaking to a Professor.

"Come by my office after your shift sometime. We can share a drink," Woh-Lar invited him.

"I would like that," Enzo stammered. Talos' heart clenched. A perfect opportunity.

Woh-Lar began to saunter away no doubt congratulating himself on his charity and magnanimity when he paused. He turned back, his eyes on his feet a small smile playing on his lips.

"And don't lose heart over Emerys, she's a good girl." He glanced up and smiled his boyish smile. Talos felt a little sick over it.

* * *

Talos crept down the darkened hallway towards Woh-Lar's office. He had gained the perfect excuse. He gets caught and he had just misunderstood the Professor's invitation. He needed to see Woh-Lar's research. Needed to know how much time remained for Enzo. Needed to stop thinking of the night in the tent and the Ulohmu. Her picture seemed to be constantly behind his eyes whenever he closed them. In sleep he had begun to walk through the rubble with her although she never spoke to him or turned her head.

The lights were out beneath the old wooden door. Its lock an iron maw that would fall to Talos' gentle prodding. It wasn't necessary the oak slab hung proud of the frame, the door uselessly ajar.

Talos opened the door and crept in. The hot iron smell of blood hit him first. He closed the door behind him, breathing in a forbidden scent. He reached for the lights bracing as he turned.

The office was turned upside down. Its contents hopelessly picked through. Sitting in his chair, head hanging back and mouth slack in surprise was Woh-Lar with a knife in his chest. Talos froze.

He knew it, had felt the weight of death as soon as he had entered the room but now it was undeniable. He didn't need to sort through the wreckage to know it had been picked clean.

He calmly turned out the lights and closed the door behind him. The tinny heat of sick sat low in his throat and Enzo begged him to go to Emerys. He screamed against his lungs despite her rejection, the sting of her ire, to go lay eyes on her.

As his final mercy to him Talos obeyed and turned his feet with urgency towards the dorms.

He followed the old worn rugs silently through the darkened halls. The distance to her door ever closing but not fast enough. His breath stung as he reached it and his fingers twitched. He tried the knob and it opened easily.

His Emerys would never be so lax. She would never throw caution to the wind like that.

He slipped through the door and all was calm. The bed was made as smooth as a stone slab in the moonlight. Except it was late and she was not there. Enzo would not be calmed. She should be there he moaned into Talos' ribs. With shaking hands he pulled back the covers and on the white white sheets was so much blood.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flight path

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> major canon divergence ahoy!

The spaceport in Aloma city was bustling. The large concrete slab had massive arching solar panels from side to side so from a distance it looked like a whale carcass gone belly up. The plates winked at Talos as he made his way towards it. He thought the dark blots taking off or landing looked like flies. Beneath the arcade would be huddled a dizzying collection of vendors and traders. Some looking to sell their wares, others looking to hire workers. The perfect escape.

He had not told the Elder Council he had failed yet. They did not know he had abandoned his cramped cell in the leaking basement of the University and was now walking towards freedom. And treason. He was trying not to let the treason part eat at him

He hadn't shaken Enzo yet. He would soon. He had promised him he could stay on Cairn, that Talos would not carry the last frozen piece of him off into space. Enzo was terrified of space. A man who looked at the stars but lived in fear of going beyond them. Of leaving Cairn. Talos could not understand having roots so deep they caused you to fear being uprooted. Even as a boy on Zendinar there had been an understanding that it wasn't truly his home. That no where but Skrullos would be home to the Skrulls and they could never return there. Now it had a new name. Hala.

The Kree had conquered it. Had wooed their way with talks of peace and a shared prosperity into the soft and loving hearts of his Skrull ancestors and then they had exiled them. The Kree had churned more Skrull bones into the muck of battlefields than had been contained in their burial mounds. Then they had built glistening towers and painted themselves the victims of a deceptive race.

The survivors had spread across the galaxy, collecting briefly on small rocks like swirling eddies before parting again. Talos had spent his life navigating a river of deception and dreaming of a world his father's father's father never set foot on. If it was true every body carried traces of stardust and mineral from the planet of their birth there were no Skrulls alive that contained a particle of Skrullos, or the sky above, in them. And yet they dreamed of it. Longed for it, fought for it and died for it.

Talos tried not to think of Emerys dying here. Tried to stop Enzo from being comforted that she would stay there with him forever. After he had found the blood Enzo had panicked. He had wanted to tear apart the University and its grounds until he found her body. It would be a body. No one could have survived the blood loss. A small comfort to Talos was she had died in her bed and she had not been taken from the tent while he was prone and useless. In a life of endless guilt he would push away any shred he could. He could only assume they had hidden her body so they could use her. They could take her form and steal into Woh-Lar's office. Had the Professor caught her rifling through his files? Or had they found him and struck? He couldn't know. All he could know was that Emerys was dead and gone.

Two questions plagued him; the first was when? Was that the real reason she had avoided him? Had the one who taken her felt Enzo's kiss and decided to avoid any unwanted ardour? Or was it that night. Was his last memory of her true body to be her running from Enzo like a frightened animal?

The second question was how had they known Woh-Lar was close? Had it been a lucky guess or was there a leak within the Elder Council? Had one of their own betrayed them? They would have known about the trip down the mountain, and had access to anything Talos stole. In part, he had justified his silent defection with this suspicion. Was the Council compromised? Could anyone be trusted now?

He reached the spaceport. He kept his hat pulled low over his eyes as he moved through the crowd. The smell of burning fuel and sizzling power banks filled his senses, beneath was the smell of grain, sweat and frying oil. It was not a true marketplace. Instead like squatters the vendors of Cairn had simply descended on the port and refused to be moved. Hence the place was a maze of lean tos and blankets. They appeared and disappeared at random during the night. If you tried to find a particular vendor again you would be out of luck.

Talos' eyes scanned the crowd. He had to find another face. Someone about Enzo's size as he had no change of clothes, his sack contained only Enzo's sparse possesions and what had been given to Talos by the Council when he accepted his place as a spy. All that anounted to was a commlink and stun batton. He drifted through the crowd, his hand extended slightlt from his side, fingers spread. He willed his body to pick up something unseen, some ancient guidance. Bodies knocked against him as he walked the wrong way through the flow and slid against strangers. He willed one of them to call to him. A soul willing to take Enzo's place.

Nothing.

As he moved there was a great squwaking. A loud impudent sound followed quickly by a shouting and rattling. Enzo paused. A bird.

Enzo liked birds.

Talos' head turned of its own accord, looking away from the crowd to find the source of the noise. He saw a flash of brilliant green between the fluttering flaps of tents. A large brutish man was banging the cane cage with a stick, shouting at the massive bird cramped inside to shut up. The bird only became more agitated shaking its emerald wings. It had a long red tail trailing to the bottom of the cage.

Enzo's blood boiled. A great Cairian Jay. A bird of uncommon intelligence. Meant, like Enzo, to live and stay on Cairn and now this beast of a man was going to cart it away. Enzo whispered a legend to Talos. That Cairian Jays were women who did not find love in this life so their souls were reborn as Jays so they could fly farther and find their mate. No one deserved such a fate as being locked in a cage. Would Talos have let Emerys' soul be so abused?

Him. Enzo whispered to Talos. Take him.

Talos balked. This slovenly mountain of a man was not who he wanted against his skin. A man who screamed and beat at a cage. Except Enzo wouldn't be quieted. Take him. Take him and free the bird.

Talos felt bile rise in his guts at the thought but no amount of disgust could stop his feet from turning and his body slipping towards the man in the crowd.

Up close the man was larger than he seemed.

"How much for the bird?" He heard himself asking and the man turned around with a snarl. His skin was tinged with purple high in the cheeks and his nose was like a jagged outcropping on his face. At least, Talos thought hopelessly, he seemed to have all his teeth.

"This bird is already bought and paid for," the man snarled. Talos felt a tingle down his spine. He could be swayed.

"I will pay more, and then you won't have to transport it anywhere."

The man regarded Talos carefully. He could smell the poverty on him.

"This isn't some hen you can have for a credit and a promise, boy. This bird is worth more than you have seen in this life."

The bird had stopped crying out and now watched them with sad eyes through the bars of its cage.

"I carry more than you think. If you have a place we could meet I will show you."

The man looked side to side. He was tempted. The cage was large and the crowd densely packed. He could disappear from his benefactor here and slip away with both payments.

He grunted and held out a thick fingered hand to point the way to a nearby tent. It was the colour of dark wine and had shreds through it as if it had been placed in many more precarious places than the dock of Aloma. Talos walked to the tent. He waved the man inside. He hesitated but deciding Enzo was no threat he ducked into the dimly lit interior first.

Talos followed him. Inside smelled of sweat, mold and bird shit.

"Now boy-" the man turned around as Talos let the flap drop. His mouth hung open as Talos began to unbutton Enzo's shirt. "What are you doing?"

"We were going to discuss the price of the bird," Talos said calmly as he slipped Enzo's shirt and bag from his shoulders. The man's face turned an even deeper shade of purple.

"Boy this is not the kind of payment I meant," the man spluttered as Talos loosened the drawstring on Enzo's pants.

"I told you I carry more than you think," Talos answered him eyes glancing down Enzo's body.

"Nothing you currently have is of value to me, now get out." The man walked quickly towards Talos as if to shove him half naked out the door. Talos scrambled to gather Enzo's things as the man came closer, Talos' face set in a flirty grin.

"I wouldnt be so sure," Talos whispered as the man growled and went to shove him. He dropped his bag, hand wrapped around the end of the stun baton. He hit the man's beefy neck, thick with bulging muscle and veins that pulsed with the electricity that coursed from the baton to his body.

He fell like a stack of bricks.

When Hoban, for that was the mountain's name, awoke he found himself bound on his side in nothing but his underwear. Talos had no need of that much intimacy although he currently wore the man's face. Hoban spit and choked against Enzo's socks which were balled into his mouth. He wriggled on the ground against his bonds like a fish. There was no hope as Talos had knotted his own trip wires and snares around his limbs.

"There, there boy" Talos growled at him. "Someone will find you soon."

The man's eyes were wide with terror and he made strange sounds around his gag. Talos folded Enzo's clothes and left them in a neat pile in front of Hoban like an offering.

Talos fit Hoban's massive body through the tent and rejoined the ever moving mass of people. He saw the bird and felt a clutching in his gut. A desire to own and possess. He wanted the bird in a senseless, passionate way. Only Talos' promise to Enzo moved Hoban's hands to open the latch. The bird looked at him cautiously. Seeing beyond his face to the new centre of its captor.

It sidled cautiously down the bar of its cage towards the opening. Its head bobbed and weaved as it moved.

"Hey beauty," Talos grunted into the cage. The bird ducked its head three times before pushing through the opening. It fluttered out the door, wings huge when spread open. It landed on Talos' newly broad shoulders, its claws digging in. Talos regarded it suspiciously through the corner of his eye. "Now don't be expecting anything more from me."

The bird shook its feathers but stayed on his shoulder. Talos couldn't tarry. He had to keep moving and find transpor. Before someone found the real Hoban. He took off with the swaying beast still on his shoulder.

He moved through the crowds and tried to shimmy his shoulders in such a way that he could dislodge the hanger on. The bird only made low whistling noises at him like a laughing woman in his ear.

His stomach growled and he couldn't remember the last time he ate. He was far enough from Hoban's tent to pause he thought. The bird made a gleeful sound as his feet slowed near a fruit stand.

"This is only funny to you," he muttered as he paused at the vendor, passing over coin to buy a handful of goba seeds. He popped one in his mouth. The bird brushed its beak against his cheek until Talos passed it a seed. The bird took it cackling triumphantly.

As Talos looked down into the small parcel of seeds he saw a slim hand reach through the press of bodies around him. The hand moved as if it was disembodied reaching through the crowd. It felt the stack of food finally gripping a small moragu fruit. Talos watched as the hand pulled back the skin ripple from pink to green. His heart clenched and there was a trill of surprise and dismay, before the hand disappeared. Talos turned so fast the bird flapped in dismay. He saw the small green form dressed in dirt brown dodging through the crowd. He took off with such speed the bird at last left his shoulders taking flight to soar above the crowd.

Talos barely noticed as he chases the Skrull child through the swell of bodies.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Big Game

Hoban was a hunter. The man was large but he knew his body well enough he could maneuver silently when he wanted to. He could also see clearly over most heads in the crowd. Pursuing the child from a distance was an easy task. The kid didn't even glance back. Although they at least pulled their cap down low. Talos felt the thrill of the hunt move through him. Also the fascination. He had not seen a skrull child since his mother took him from Zendinar, his own childhood robbed from him. He wanted in a perverse way to know where this child lived. If they were happy. If there were other children for them to play with. Were they a child of the Ulohmu?

The child ran towards a fluttering linen awning set against a large bellied ship. A woman with her face shrouded in a hood caught them in her arms, from a distance Talos could only make out her movements but he knew her brow would be furrowed with concern. She enveloped the child in her flowing blue robes and walked them into the ship, their face pressed to her soft belly. He allowed Hoban to circle closer, his dark eyes searching their nest looking for clues. He stalked around their ship slowly, his movements became tighter, his muscles coiling with the thrill of the hunt. He crouched for awhile and watched the shifting of crates. His tongue darted out and wet his lips over and over willing some miasma to catch in the folds of his mouth.

There were four of them and the child. The woman reappeared eventually and began helping the old man and his two young helpers to load the splayed open iron belly. He tried to picture the voices of those who had raided the camp. How many had there been? Were the crates they loaded stolen from Emerys? They didn't look familiar.

Every once in awhile they paused and looked out over the port as if they knew they were being watched. Talos stayed still. Hoban knew he was big but he had trained unbelievable stillness into his muscles. And focus. Talos blamed the intense single minded focus for what happened next.

He had only the smallest glimmer of warning in his periphery before a quarter staff swung bludgeoning him above Hoban's crumpled ear. The world exploded into stars before the world went blood red and purple and Hoban's large body toppled like a tower. The concrete bit into his shoulder and the light above him was blocked out by the tall, lean figure of a man. The crowd merely parted around them as the stranger stepped between Talos' legs and pressed the butt of his staff into his jugular causing his blood to slow and the world to become hazy.

"Why are you watching that ship?" The man grit out.

"Who's asking?" Talos spit out, Hoban's voice still echoed wrong in his ears.

"The captain," the man responded before bringing his staff down again and the world went dark.

* * *

Talos awoke on his knees inside a ship. He knew from the wide curve of the walls it was the Skrull ship. The inside was the oxidized red of a well worn vessel. Its innards packed to bursting with supplies. Talos was chained to the floor, his body wrapped in heavy links leading to a ring in the floor. The man who had jumped him was sitting on a stack of crates like it was his throne. He wore clothes similar to the others, flowing wide leg linen pants in dove grey and a tunic top. His face would have been obscured by a knotted scarf except he had pulled the fabric aside. His face was handsome. He had a long aquiline nose, high cheekbones and eyes so pale they seemed to glow. His staff leaned next to him and despite his relaxed posture, every muscle in his body quivered with readiness.

"Who sent you?" He asked when he saw Talos lift his head. The place he had been hit throbbed. Every tilt of his head felt like his brain was sloshing from one side of his skull to the other.

"Do you make it a habit of jumping strangers?" Talos asked running his fat tongue over his back teeth feeling for cracks.

"I do when they are watching my ship," the man answered.

"Is there something to see? Maybe I just thought your wife was pretty. It's lonely out there." Talos sucked around his teeth and spit on the ground, looking for the telltale swirls of dark blood. The man stiffened. Talos grinned at him. He grabbed his staff and began pacing around Talos. He exuded an angry suspicious energy. Younger than he appeared. Talos wondered who was inside him.

"I could kill you, you know" the man stopped behind Talos pressing his staff into the base of his skull and pushing him forward. The chains rattled. Talos laughed.

"Boy, I know a killer when I see one. You are not one." The end of the staff ground harder into him.

"You have no idea. Tell me why you were watching the ship."

"Your child. They stole from a vendor. I followed them. Where there is one thief-" his words were cut off by the pressure of the staff jabbing into his spine above the chains pushing him even farther, his body bent double around the chains, the thick links aching.

"We aren't thieves." The man hissed. Talos curled his lip. He was a live wire. Responsive. Not in the habit of interrogating. Easier to manipulate than he realized.

"Then all of this was fairly acquired? Why does such a small crew require so many supplies?" The man released the pressure from Talos and resumed his pacing.

"You ask too many questions for a dead man," he walked back to face him. He crouched in front of Talos and lifted his chin with his staff. Talos strained against it but he found himself staring into eyes like the sky.

"I am not dead yet. There is a lot more ground between "dead" and "not dead yet" than you think. So tell me. Are you going to beat me to death with that little stick or do you have other weapons here?" Talos growled at him. Did this whelp in the skin of a man think he scared him? Talos watched his eyes slide for the briefest of seconds to the far wall. There were weapons here.

Instead Talos felt the invasive tingle of empathy. The man was trying to read him. Talos shut himself up tighter, wound a firmer grip on his emotions. He could feel the pressure against his defences. Talos grit his teeth and held the man's stare. Willing him to back down. The staff just pressed harder into his throat.

"Soren?" All sensation stopped immediately as the soft voice of a woman broke the intense eye contact between them. The man, Soren, stood turning so quickly their clothing fluttered. Talos felt a low growl in his chest. This was Soren. The name that had followed him. The one who had worn Emerys' face. The one from the raid on the camp.

"Thalla, leave. Now," Talos watched as Soren crowded the small brunette woman from the room, blocking her from Talos' view. When she was gone Soren turned back to him. Talos smiled.

"Soren? So you have a name," Talos let his eyes drift slowly down the man's body. "My name is Hoban. There is no reason we can't be friends."

Light of recognition flickered across Soren's pale eyes. They returned to the stack of crates, sitting wide legged their elbows on their knees. Talos was keenly aware he had no plan. He wondered if they had searched his bag when they took it from him. He could see it now slouching against the stack of crates Soren used as a seat.

"You are Hoban?" Soren asked him.

"Would I lie?"

"I can see you are a Trill. We are going to Trillium. We need a guide." It was not a question or an invitation. It was a charge. Talos felt the weight of the chains on him.

"Why?"

"Our party went ahead of us. We need to meet them."

"And why does that require a guide?" Talos asked mockingly. Soren regarded him carefully. Suspicion dripped off their shoulders. Talos felt again the smoke of empathy reach for him. He didn't even breath.

"As you know the surface of Trillium is dangerous. Our party is stranded and unsafe. We need to build a better shelter and reunite with them."

"You mean to squat on my homeworld," Talos spit out feeling Hoban's anger rear its ugly head for the first time. Soren bristled.

"We want a corner of a swamp. You should be flattered anyone would be willing to crouch on it." Soren snarled at him from their perch. "You are a renowned hunter, Hoban and yet I have you in chains. I suggest you swallow your pride and impress me."

They slid from their perch and opened the crate beneath them, shuffling through the contents.

"Why should I care if you are impressed?" Talos watched the way they leaned into the crate. He could not decide if it was good luck or bad that he had stumbled upon the Ulohmu. The Council did not know where he had gone. There was a tracker beneath his skin, implanted when he enlisted, buried deep almost to the bone so no amount of form-shifting could shake it. How long before they thought to engage it? How could he use this to his advantage?

"You are Hoban, big game hunter. The man who can master nature. He tames the savage beast or he mounts them on his wall. A man with one thousand trophies." Soren turned back to him, gripping something in their hand. They approached him slowly reciting Hoban's resume with a mocking tone.

"So you have heard of me?"

"I inquired about a guide. All of Aloma port recommended you but said I wouldn't be able to secure your services. But here we are." Soren crouched in front of him again.

"What makes you think you can keep me prisoner? You may have me now but put me on Trillium and I will have you."

"You won't. You have no idea what you have stumbled into. You have no choice but to help us."

"I thought my options were tame you or mount you?" He growled. Soren was too close to him. They recoiled slightly at his promising grin.

"You will be our guide on Trillium," Soren repeated.

"Did you miss the part where I do that for money? Why would I help you if you haven't even tried to buy my services?"

Soren crept closer to him still. Their hand reaching for Hoban's collar, pushing it open hesitantly. It was Talos' turn to hiss and recoil. The empathy reached to sooth him as he knelt in chains with a foreign touch against his skin. It felt too intimate. Too powerful. The belly of ship narrowed around him until it was just the two of them kneeling in the floor.

"Because," Soren whispered disrupting their touch with the cold press of metal. A disc bit into his skin. "I have just killed you."

"What was that? What did you do?" Hoban's rage bubbled and frothed inside him.

"Time release poison disc. I have the antidote. Help us and I will keep you alive. Run away and your guts liquefy before you meet the first village."

"This isn't how you do business," Talos grit through the burning beneath his skin.

"Its how I do business," Soren shrugged.

They left him chained in the belly of the ship. He was alone for a moment before the lights flickered and he was cast into darkness. Around him he heard the beast whirr to life and felt the vibration in his knees of the ship leaving Cairn.

It seemed he was now the prisoner of the Ulohmu.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Deal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Congratulations on the Hugo everybody.
> 
> This is honestly the best place on the internet. I wish I could live here for forever.

Talos did not know how darkness could be boiling hot. He was slumped on his side, skin sweating until the worn linen of his shirt stuck to him beneath the hide of his jacket. He was numb where the chains bruised him the sensation fading from sharp defined pain to endless static as the ache in his lungs increased. He was no longer anything but sensation. He floated somewhere inside the big watery form that was Hoban's body.

There were intervals when someone came to him, a figure moving in the darkness. The fog of empathy pouring from them as they searched for him. The sting of a needle in his neck and for a while the pain would stop. The loop, the pattern, lulling him deeper into Hoban. Sometimes hands, careful steady hands, held water to his mouth that he did little more than gurgle into until they pulled the bowl away. Or hands would pet him as if he was a fettered beast. A low hum like bees in his ear, echoing in his chest. Or was it a shapeless song. He hated how much he wanted it, this affection. When it was only the sting of the needle he hated how a whimper burbled out of him and he yearned for some forgotten comfort. They didn't always appease him but he felt the hiss of hestitation. Of desire spilling from a vessel. Desire to soothe, to comfort, to change course.

Other times it was Hoban who was awake and Talos lay prone as the mountain of a man thrashed and gnashed his teeth. Then there would be the hard pressure on his neck. The staff holding him to the deck before the life preserving sting of the needle made the pain go away. No comfort then, no humming, no water. Only vindication, triumph, certainty pooling on the floor around their twisting sweating bodies. Then there would be empty darkness once more.

__

* * *

  
Artificial gravity was different from the gravity of a planet. It was hard to explain but it pulled the body in a different way. That was how Talos knew as his eyes fluttered open in the belly of the ship that they were still in space, the gravity engine still thumping away. Soren was back on their throne their foot swinging and their chin on their staff. Watching him.

"Why haven't we landed?" He groaned his face pushed into the cold steel of the cargo bay.

"You are awake," Soren said leaping down from the tower of crates.

"And alive, no thanks to you," he tried to sway Hoban's massive form upright but he barely slithered against the floor.

Soren planted a foot into his hip and grabbed handfuls of chains. They dragged until he was able to sway upright.

"I only needed you barely alive for the trip. Now we are here I need you mostly alive."

They skittered away as he tugged on his shackles.

"Then let me out of these chains," Talos growled.

"Not yet. First I want to talk."

"I will kill you," Talos muttered in Hoban's weakened voice but he found he meant it down to his heart.

"That isn't the position to take if you want me to release you," Soren crouched to look into his bleary blinking eyes just beyond the reach of his arms.

"Why haven't we landed?" He repeated more carefully, more knowingly. Willing them to admit why they had woken him earlier than planned. Soren's brow furrowed, lip drawn between teeth. They didn't trust him but they needed him.

"We are in orbit around Trillium."

"And we haven't landed because.." Talos sunk down and hung his head back. He felt like hell. He did not know how long it had been since his last meal, or true sleep, he felt the sick tinge of nausea sticking to his sinuses.

"We can't."

Talos slung his head forward fixing her with a skeptical stare.

"I suppose you need me to do that?"

Soren fixed him with a look that was both exasperated and pleading. They didn't want to lower themselves to this, to asking for help already.

"Unchain me," Talos repeated.

"I want to talk first," Soren insisted.

"It's been twenty hours. Unless you jumped but somehow I doubt you told the Guild everything in your stores. I need food, I need water and I need both my hands. Or did you plan on starving me?"

"You can have food and water but I won't release you until we come to a deal," Soren repeated.

"Do you plan on assisting me then," Talos glanced significantly downward. Soren froze.

"You have to-"

"It's been twenty hours" Talos enunciated clearly. Soren's eyes searched the cargo bay, he could see the calculations running through their brain.

"You won't find the antidote. If you kill me you die," Soren warned creeping closer to him. Talos did his best to shrug peacefully.

"I have no interest in returning to my previous state."

Soren crept across the floor closer to him, their staff dragging. Hoban stirred, his mind running through all the ways they were vulnerable. How when they unlocked him he could burst into action and overwhelm them. Talos clamped down on the desire. Soren was so close, so tight in his space they shared the same air. They pulled aside the neckline of their tunic to remove a key, Talos could see the long column of their neck and the tanned planes of their chest. He wondered again, who was beneath this man's skin. What Soren's true face was. The lock sprung free beneath their clever fingers and they moved backwards staff already in their grip. Talos moaned deep in his belly as the chains loosened. Tingling relief as is blood could flow again.

He struggled to his feet, everything felt like tiny slivers beneath his skin. His knees wouldn't give, he wouldn't let them. Soren's head tipped back as he straightened. The man was tall but Hoban was taller.

"You walk first," Soren pointed to the door of the cargo bay. Talos grunted, feeling the staff press between in shoulder blades. He swore he would snap the damn thing in half if it was the last thing he did. "Keep your eyes forward."

"Where are we going?" He asked as he was shoved through the tight hallway of the ship.

"My quarters."

"Really Captain? I never knew you felt that way," Talos demured, his voice sing-song in the dome of the hallway. The staff pressed harder into his back and Soren grunted.

Doors began to appear in the paneled hallway, it was a small ship there couldn't be much farther to go. Talos began glancing side to side, making a show of learning the place. The end of the hall appeared around a bend. To his side door was open and laughter flitted out, warm light spilled across the floor.

As he drew level with the room he made to turn his head, the sound of the staff slicing through the air and hovering at his cheek stopped him short.

"Turn your head and I jettison you out of the airlock" Soren grit through their teeth. Talos held up his hands in surrender. Soren jabbed him forcing him to take one step further. He could hear the laughter stop and the shuffle of movement. Soren paused and spoke lowly through the door before it closed shut.

"You are jealous man, then? Don't like other men looking at your wife?" He could have whistled Soren's anger was so delicious.

"She is not my wife," Soren growled. Talos grinned watching the floor.

"Is she single then?" He glanced over his shoulder, the staff jabbing at his spine and a low threatening noise coming from Soren. Hoban was not romantic or soft. He kept the smell of blood in his nose. He pursued the pleasure of the flesh over the feelings of the heart. He liked the thrill of the hunt. The promise of the forbidden. He liked Soren's annoyance.

"Keep moving," they had reached the end of the hall, there was only a ladder up. Talos glanced behind his shoulder and Soren tilted their head up to ceiling. Talos looked to the top of the ladder, he could see an opening.

"You don't need to be so violent." He said with his head still tilted back. He placed an experimental hand on the bars. "The women I take to bed come willingly."

He pulled himself up. He was aware of the precariousness of their situation. For a moment he would be in the room and Soren would be on the ladder. A moment when trust could be formed. He gained no favours angering them or betraying them. He could use this to his advantage. The Council had so little on the Ulohmu. They could gain more. He would see their settlement, gain an idea of their numbers. He needed Soren's trust. Even if they did not have his. Even if he suspected Emerys had died by their hands. He had to persevere. He had to serve Skrullos.

He slid his body into the room above, it had a low ceiling but the front wall was all shield. Beyond it he could see the swirling red surface of Trillium. A place he was meant to be from.

He paused to look at it, Hoban's heart stuttered. The awe of space travel never truly wore off. Especially not after months of being trapped in Aloma University.

"Quiet the view," Talos whistled as he looked out. He turned to Soren swing their body in. There was a moment when the urge to strike hit him, he clamped down. Patience. Set the trap. Wait for the right time to spring.

There was a hum in his feet. They must be above the cockpit.

"Facilities are through there," Soren ignored him pointing to slim panel in the wall. Talos grunted and negotiated Hobans large body through the panel.

The space was tight. Hoban's broad shoulders touched it wall to wall. Talos could not avoid the mirror, and Hoban's face looking back at him, square and mottled. He turned his cheek to see the disc in his neck. The blasted thing tugged and was slowly poisoning him. He needed to regroup. His mind rebeled against the thought he could stand among his own people and be in such danger. So far he had only met Soren, had heard their deadly dealings. They guarded the other Skrulls on board like a mother hen. He wondered if they weren't just the Captain of the ship but also the leader of the entire Uhlomu. His gut clenched. Would he meet _her_ on Trillium? The woman from the photo. She could be one of the ones stranded.

There was not enough air in the room with Hoban's body packed inside.

He had to leave the space. It was just as awkward to exit as to enter and he was forced to back out. His body stayed hunched as his head brushed the ceiling.

Soren was sitting on the bed. Kicking their foot out in slow circles. There was food next to them. Talos felt their amusement at his expense. He also felt his stomach rumble. Hoban's eyes swept around the room. He picked up a small white singlet from the floor.

"Awful lot of women's clothes in here for a man without a wife." Talos observed dangling the garment in from of them. Soren snatched it from him.

"Don't look, just eat," Soren scolded him springing from the bed as he sunk down on it. There was not much more than rehydrated ration packs.

"Aren't you going to have any?" He asked pulling apart the spongey nutrient yeast ball. It tasted lush, not flavorful or delectable but like heat and growth. It was an organism against his tongue, bland and heavy but full of life.

"I don't want to get bitten," Soren said dryily as they came to stop at the shield. Talos laughed around his mouthful.

"Think fast," he said lobbing one of the moragu fruit to them. Their hands fumbled for it, catching it against the rumpled linen of their chest. Now he was seeing them he wondered how hard these last twenty hours had been on them.

"I didn't poison it," Talos interjected as their teeth sunk into the blood red fruit. They sucked the flesh to stop the juice running down their hand and onto their linen. It sounded as sinful as the hot rations felt on his tongue. Talos thought what an odd pair they made. Each playing chess with half the other one's pieces.

"Neither did I," Soren answered him with a winning smile, their lips stained red for a moment.

"I am glad we agree 'no killing each other,'" Talos grinned back popping Goba seeds into his mouth, his stomach hardening remembering the look on Emerys' face as they raided the camp. The perversion of the Ulohmu they made him feel more for a Kree girl than his brethern, their minds poisoned by a charismatic leader.

"For now," Soren shrugged.

"We should agree on our terms-" his words paused as the world began to ring and go slightly blue. He put a hand to his forhead. His breathing becoming heavy. He heard Soren move, saw the plate of food fold in on itself like a kaliedoscope.

"Close your eyes," Soren commanded.

"What?" Talos panted. He worried if he closed his eyes he wouldn't open them again.

"Close. Your. Eyes," Soren insisted. Talos obeyed wanting the pain to stop as he hunched forward. He felt a firm hand cup his face as his eyes scrunched closed. They tilted his head so the thick vein of his neck was exposed. He felt the soft pass of their breath over the shell of his ear and Hoban's skin prickled. The needle stung but the ringing in his ears stopped.

"Mostly alive, that is our terms," Soren said lowly their face close to his as he slipped into sleep.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Radar

He was sleeping in her bed, his long legs hanging off the end. She moved the tray as his body slumped over into her sheets. At least he smelled good. He was a hulking mountain of a man, his face harsh and crooked but he smelled to her of something deep and ancient. Like the breeze from the sea carrying with it salt and decay from a millenia before. He smelled of perseverance and survival. It made her heart thud and her palms itch.

She couldn't believe her luck at finding him. She watched him for a moment. In case she had not dosed him enough. The last twenty hours she had had lots of practice but now he had food in his stomach there was new factor to consider. When he didn't stir she walked to the hatch in her floor and pulled it open. Below her was the warm glow of the cockpit and she felt the rush from the suction of the change in pressure tugged at her. He would be out for a little bit she hadn't given him enough antidote to accommodate movement burning energy. She upped it this time. She would need to be more vigilant. He couldn't collapse once they were on the planet surface. She lifted her shirt and slid the cold cylinder of antidote beneath the skin of her ribs. Vadir had shown her this trick of his anatomy when she had taken his form She remembered her hands mapping his body, absorbing the smallest details.

Shifting as it was meant to be; consenual, intimate and all encompassing. Vadir had understood. Had wanted to help them in this small way. His body was useful to her. Strong. Handsome. Able to deal easily in every port. Their encounter had been brief and still he shivered against her. The problem with such exquisite detail was the body could only maintain it for so long before the mind weakened and the form shook off. It was the only way the Ulohmu allowed shifting. Anything brief or passing was forbidden. Even for survival. One of Indes' more unforgiving edicts. Die a Skrull rather than stealing from another soul. That was what simning was, theft. Even if the sim lasted longer because it was a work of imagination. The mind fracturing even as the body held.

The Ulohmu could steal material goods for survival but never bodies, faces, lives. Permission. Acceptance. Respect. Those were the tennents of Shifting.

Early in her life with the Ulohmu such declarations made Soren fear her body. When her instinct for survival was to hide her face. She was convinced she would slip. Steal without meaning to. Disappoint Indes.

Except, regret clenched Soren's gut, she had allowed it on Cairn. Once. Only once, she assured herself, that would be the end of it. The younger ones had persuaded her. They were impatient to return to Indes and the others. She lowered herself down the the ladder, swearing she would not lose control. She would show Indes she was a leader. She would prove herself.

"Soren, what are you thinking?" Dek asked as soon as her feet landed on the metal. He was older than her but new to the Ulohmu. He had joined when his family had died in a Kree attack. Soren grit her teeth. She knew when he looked at her he saw his daughter. He worried about her like a father. He wasn't questioning her authority.

"We need him," she answered pulling up a reading of the storm below on the shield. She leant over the console, watching it carefully. The atmospheric storms of Trillium only ever lessened they never stopped entirely.

"Thalla said you brought him to your room. Are you going to shift?" Dek asked, his nose crinkling despite himself. His distaste evident.

"He would never agree. We take him as he is."

"Just sim him, Sor. We can't risk-"

"No." Soren cut Giz off immediately. "We don't sim."

"But-" his mouth moved and Soren felt cold. It was addicting; the ease, the safety, the power.

"We. Don't. Sim." She repeated.

"We would be bringing him directly to Indes. What if he turns on us?" Thalla's face was white with fear beneath her brunette curls.

"He can be bought," she said turning back to the screen. Below them Indes' beacon glowed, but she knew they could not reach them without being blown off course. Nor could they rescue all of them. Or land the ship in the marsh they had been quagmired in. The only hope was to establish a new base camp and ferry the people back.

"With what?" Giz piped up. Soren shot him a withering look.

"Everyone has his price. Maybe I will feed him you, Giz." The boy blanched. He was young and impulsive. He was recklessly eager to please. He questioned everything. He was everything Soren once was and everything she tried not to be.

There was stirring above them. Heavy footsteps. Everyone froze.

* * *

The first thing Talos was aware of as his eyes opened was the smell of earth. A deep smell. The scent of home, of belonging surrounded him. Nothing hurt. He could see the rumpled sheets of a bed spreading out around him. He realized blearily he was smelling a woman. He turned his head into the soft cotton and inhaled deeply letting Hoban's trained nose tell him everything the lingering scent of her could. The smell was faded. Not lush from a recently slept in bed. So Soren had been awake this whole time. And Soren was a woman. He grunted as he sat up.

She had chosen her form wisely. The man was tall and strong. His face good looking. Talos was almost jealous. He always seemed to end up in shrivelled loathsome creatures. He stretched his neck feeling the skin pull around the poison disc. If he released Hoban it would most likely drop out of his skin but it was too risky. He needed any scrap Hoban knew of this planet and he would need a new form to hide in. Everyone aboard would be Skrulls. He could not take their form. The problem with cellular empathy was it was not fooled by the exterior. Taking the form of a Skrull in disguise only made you appear as the Skrull.

He looked around the room lit only by the swirling red surface of Trillium. He could hear voices. He slunk across the floor littered with clothes and junk. Apparently Soren had become comfortable in this little ship. A hatch opened to the room below, the soft shushing of pressurized air moving through an opening. He had been right the cockpit was below them. There was no point in waiting. He stepped a heavy booted foot onto the highest wrung, shifting his bulk back and forth to fit into the small hatch.

The voices stopped as he came into view. He turned to see Soren at the controls, a blanched and nervous semi-circle around her.

"Am I interrupting something?" He asked his eyes sweeping to each face. Soren alone was unmoved.

"You're awake," they said. He sucked his teeth and meandered closer to the controls. The group around them held a collective breath.

"Are you surprised? You have done a miserable job killing me so far," he cocked an eyebrow at them and they nodded at the screen.

"Are you alive enough to get us through the storm?"

Talos looked at it carefully, a homing beacon was blinking amidst the swirling red.

"Mostly," he shrugged sliding his bulk in front of Soren so they had to shift away from him. He settled into the chair gripping the steering. "I suggest everyone go brace."

"You don't tell them what to do, I do." Soren set their shoulders. They turned to look at the pathetic group. These were the mighty Ulohmu? "Go brace."

They scuttled from the room. Soren slipped into the co-pilot's chair.

"Have you ever done this before?" Soren asked watching him from the side of their eye.

"Not exactly," Talos answered engaging the engine. Soren looked at him with wide blue eyes.

"Then why are you doing this?"

"A little late to be asking that," Talos answered as he took hold of the controls and started to drop them out of orbit.

* * *

It wasn't just storms in the atmosphere of Trillium. Launched into low orbit by volcanic eruption were hurtling masses of red stone and rock. High enough they had escaped the weak gravity of Trillium. There was a reason Hoban had grown so tall. His bulk came from a life traversing different planets, the shifting mass of his body honing muscles with purpose. His eyes too were good but as the dust flew and the ship was thrown back and forth by the wind Talos could barely see.

"You watch for debris and tell me if it's coming. I am going to keep us level" he called over the sound of chips hitting the shield and the howling of wind.

Soren dug her fingers into the console and she hunched over the radar.

"Incoming, drop," she called watching the pin of light speed towards them. Talos fought to keep the ship steady as he dropped in altitude. "No wait, hold."

Soren grabbed his shoulder as the ship rocked. In front of the shield a boulder of crimson rock hurled passed.

"Pay attention," Talos grumbled as the tension in the cockpit rose.

"It's not my fault the radar is only in - one -dimension." Her words trailed off. She looked around the room eyes scanning. "Hold here," she shouted over the scrape of debris. Talos' knuckles were white on the controls.

"Easier said than done," he growled his muscles straining to hold them level. The ship wanted to bank and his body was leaning hard. Soren got up from their seat and went sliding across the cockpit. Talos didn't dare look away from the radar. "Where in the bloody hell are you going?"

Soren didn't answer as she moved quickly across the cabin, pulling herself up the ladder and rolling into her room. Everything was sliding across the floor. She ran through the shifting room on coltish legs to the facilities. She fell through the door as the sound of impact rung dully through the cabin.

"Soren," Hoban howled beneath her. She ripped the mirror off the wall, feeling the wobble of the thin polished metal. She moved from the room and gathered more pieces as they slid back and forth across the floor. Her treasures gathered close she half climbed, half dropped through the hatch.

The ship rocked harder and Hoban panted at the controls. She moved to him quickly climbing beneath the dash.

"For the love of all the heavenly bodies, what are you doing?" Talos cursed.

"Just wait," Soren panted as they were tucked between his knees and the console, their firm body knocking into him over and over. He veered as the radar blink out.

"Soren" he said it like a swear as he heard them scrabbling beneath the panel.

"Just do your best," they called as rocks continued to hurtle passed. Finally, after precious minutes and lots of scraping and cursing the radar blinked on again. This time it was in three dimensions hovering above the dash. Talos felt his mouth go slack as Soren pulled their panting body from beneath the console.

"I guess that will work," Talos muttered as he slowly lowered the ship through the storm and their blinking light dropped through the hovering image.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Smoke

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Omg guys I have so many WIP and yet I cant quit any of them.
> 
> Thank you to those that comment. Rarepair fics can get discouraging without all the lovely feedback in the comment sections. You are very appreciated.  
💚💙💜❤DH

The surface of Trillium was a sweltering place. Once they had successfully dropped beneath the rock storm the journey had become easier. Talos kept glancing over at Soren, he did not know what to make of what he had seen. What were the Ulohmu capable of with such a mind at the helm? It terrified him as much as it impressed him.

Soren laughed. It made Talos jump as he piloted the ship downwards. The sound was unexpected. It was not a bark of amusement or a hearty chuckle. It tumbled like cascading bells. It was almost music. Soren looked at him and laughed again.

He bristled under their scrutiny, "What?"

Soren raised their eyebrows and licked away the smile that twisted their lips.

"You should just admit you are impressed," they said their eyes returning to the radar.

"I will," Talos gripped his knuckles tighter on the steering. He focused on the shield beyond even as the swirling red ash in the air made his eyes ache and his head spin. "When you do something impressive."

Soren gave him a knowing smile and stood up stretching. Blasted empathy. Talos looked at their reflection in the shield. Their linen shirt twisted around their body as the made a satisfied sound. The long, vibrant line of their torso through the thin cloth was marred by an outline against their ribs. They caught his eyes in the shield. Talos quickly broke eye contact as they laughed again. This time it had an edge of disbelief and discomfort. He wondered if his grip had loosened on his defenses as he had tried to land them safely. He wondered what they had smelled on him.

They began to walk away.

"Where are you going?"

"To check on the others now the hard part is done," they waved over their shoulder as the cockpit door slid open. He watched them saunter away. The smell of the woman still trapped in Hoban's sense, Talos wondered how he had missed the slight roll in their gait.

Soren was feeling overwhelmed in the small cockpit. The heat already building outside the shield and the tension of her comrades was rising. She had felt their fear pressing tight against her as debris had clanged against the ship. She could feel their distrust and impatience now things had quieted. Then there had been Hoban.

Hoban whose senses filled her. A connection she never thought she would have again. She had felt the coveting greed pouring off of him in the crowd as he watched their ship. He was lost in a fog of hunter's instinct. On an impulse, she had taken him aboard to find out why he watched them. She thought he would not be able to hide his intentions from her but when faced with Vadir directly Hoban had evaded her as much as he intrigued her. He had barred her out as she had tried to persuade his emotions to the surface.

Only once he was in the painful throes of half death had his guard dropped again. His desperation had nearly cracked her ribs with its weight. It was like being at the bottom of the ocean with him and she would have done anything to satisfy the crushing loneliness. Or other times he had been a burning tower of rage. He had awoken the fire in her. As the hours passed and her visits had continued, she sometimes wished to meet the beast when she came to him for the sheer thrill of pinning him to the floor.

Just now, while black waves of distress rolled down the hall to her, Hoban had been a steady white light. Focussed on the task at hand his defenses had lowered and some addicting sense poured out of him. It was conviction. Firm solid conviction and it was like a life raft to her. Then they had been free from danger and the light from him had glimmered like sunlight on the sea. Admiration and the smallest hint of something closer to fear had pulsed from him, in small bursts timed perfectly she realized, to when his eyes had been on her. It had surprised her. She had laughed. She laughed at his own shock at admiring her.

She had sprung from her seat wanting to move. To scurry away and savour the vulnerability that was eclipsing everyone else on the ship. Except as she stretched her tense body she had felt the barest thread of crimson desire. It threaded through the white cloud surrounding him, tinging it pink. And she had panicked. She had met his eyes in the shield and she suddenly hated Vadir was who she saw looking back at her. That Vadir held Hoban's eyes. Hoban with his square sulking face, florrid from the effort of holding the ship on course, his hulking body. He made Vadir look small and made Soren feel weighed beneath his gaze. As if his observing her solidified her from light and cloud to something hard and breathing. Something that didn't just sustain life but was vibrant with it.

She had to leave. She had to escape into the inky cloud of fear pouring from the cabin quarters. An obscured and darkened place that she knew now how to navigate.

Hoban's shield clamped shut again as their eyes met but Soren still held the light of him in her body and she had to escape it. She wanted to be immaterial again.

* * *

The others were gathered all in the galley. Thalla had little Caira braced between her knees. The little one had brought such trouble on them if what Hoban had said was true. It also ended up being their salvation as Soren did not think they could have continued their rescue mission without him. While black billowed from the others, Caira was obscured in the electric blue fear of childhood. They did not understand loss and death. They feared only the things greater than themselves they could not give shape to. Soren hoped it would take a long time for Caira's fear to blacken into comfortable hopelessness. She hoped they would be burdened by optimism for many more years.

"Soren," Thwane said as the doors opened. Thwane had an arm braced around his sister Thalla. At her name, Caira let go of Thalla and flung their body into Soren. She wrapped her arms around the shivering too thin body. They were a small furnace against her but the blue icy fear made Soren's skin tingle. She borrowed a piece of Hoban's conviction, pulling loose a tiny thread to wrap Caira's young heart in. Wary of not savouring it well enough. She may never have the chance to pull more of it into her. She should avoid it if she did. Her cells were filled with Vadir and yet Hoban's pink tinged conviction bumped against the already swollen membranes. Weakening them.

She brushed her hand over the smooth green skin of Caira's head leaving a fine glitter behind of Soren's own love. She let go then. It did no good to wallow.

"We will land soon. I came to make sure everyone was well," Soren tried to sound confident. In truth, she had been running from the lush quagmire that threatened to engulf the tiny cockpit. Even if they had not been well, they would need Thalla their healer not Soren.

"We are fine. Stay with us until we land," Dek reached his hand for her. She looked at them all huddle together on the floor against the wall. She should stay and comfort them but she could not bring herself to sit in the low cloud of smoke. She shook her head.

"We need to land somewhere safe. I cannot leave it to a stranger," she turned to leave when she heard the impatient stamp of tiny feet.

"Don't go back to the bastard" Caira's reedy voice burst out. Soren looked back at them, her mouth open. Thalla hissed at Caira.

"What?"

"Giz," Caira's voice was staccato with the effort of drawing in offended gulping breaths. "Said he is a purple skinned animal murdering bastard."

Soren looked from Caira to a guilty-faced Giz. Her mouth still parted. She wanted to curse at him. To ask if he understood who had saved them now, who was allowing them to rescue the others?

"Don't be mad at Giz," Thwane said in his calm disciple's voice. "He is only saying what others were thinking."

Others? Soren thought. Not Thwane. Thwane who had been raised in the same Temple as his sister. One a healer, the other a warrior monk. He was kind and generous in his thoughts and actions. Even tempered. Unlike Thalla who had been with the Ulohmu so long she had been corrupted by their roughness.

They had stopped to get Thwane on their way to meet the others on Trillium. Soren had been shocked by the orange clad youth who had come down the steps of the burned temple to meet them. She had expected a Skrull but he was a slim faced pale young man with long black hair. He had told Soren he had worn his other face for so long he could no longer change back. That he had become one with his first master. Soren had never pressed him to release it. She felt perhaps there was more to bind the two souls than just time.

She was grateful for him. The others who went ahead had not safely crossed the rock storm. Their largest ship had been driven into the swamps of Trillium. All could have been lost.

Except Soren had been leading this group on the mission to get Thwane and they were able to receive the distress call. So like carefully stacked dishes their destinies all aligning. It was a small piece of luck she planned to hold onto with both hands. Hoban was part of that.

"These others should learn respect. He is helping us," she set Vadir's broad shoulders firmly. "For now."

"Even you don't trust him," Giz burst forward in his anger. Soren held her ground.

"I trust he will help us longer if he is treated well. We are not in a position to reject that."

She turned to leave again. The wine blackened rage that hissed from Giz was sour in her lungs.

"And how will you treat him well?" Giz muttered. Soren felt a stab of annoyance deflate her lungs. She did not stop to put him in his place. Already the fatherly calm of Dek was pooling around the angry young man. She would let another correct him for now. A small part of her feared his hair-trigger temper as he had loaded in the chamber her own shameful acts.

* * *

They were annoying each other. The ship hovered in the air, expending precious fuel while they argued about where they should land. On the shield was the topographical map of the area surrounding Indes' beacon.

"What is wrong with here?" Soren asked moving their hand through the projection to highlight a rippling pattern of light and dark surrounded by high walls of stone on almost all sides. "It's defended and that is an ancient lake bed. The ground will be fertile for growing food."

"I thought you said you would not stay," Hoban growled his eyes on the place. Soren shrugged.

"We should always prepare to take longer than we think. We won't survive by being short-sighted."

"You can't go there," he said his nose scrunching at a memory of sulfur scents.

"Why not?" Soren spat at him.

"That lake boiled away. There are sulfur pits beneath. Nothing will grow and you will easily choke to death on the fumes," he moved a fat finger to the treeline in the opposite direction. He remembered the scent of rain in the dirt. He remembered feeling safe. "Go here."

Soren sighed pulling a finger from Indes' beacon to the ripples in the projection around Hoban's fingers.

"It is too far to hike. There may be injured."

"Then where?" It felt like they would be at this for eternity. Punching a constellation of pinholes into the projection. Soren studied the map.

She saw a small ridge that looked like the one Hoban had pointed at. Secluded like her lake bed but closer.

"Here."

Talos leaned in closer, waiting for Hoban to protest. The mountian of a man was silent.

"Fine, there."

Soren felt shimmering relief as she threw herself into the co-pilot's chair. She could not tell as he punched in the coordinates, whether the feeling came from her or Hoban.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know your thoughts 
> 
> 💜💚💙❤DH

The red dirt of Trillium was jarring next to the dark green treeline. Talos flew them to their coordinates, following a sheer ridge that dropped away from the forest. The sandy clinging roots of trees dangled down the dark rock face shaking from their infinite tubules tracks of red earth. It was as if the cliff was bleeding.

"Home sweet home," Soren remarked. Talos grit his teeth, if only they knew how hard those words scraped against him. Hoban yearned for something other than recycled air. He wanted to feel Trillium's gritty soil beneath his boots. Talos turned the ship and lowered it so the rock face curved around its back. The ship groaned as it landed, the soft soil sinking around the feet that came down on all four sides of the potbellied craft.

Talos began to unfold himself from the too small Captain's chair. The thing had been groaning under his weight since this fool's errand began.

"Wait," Soren's voice stopped him. "Stay there. Close your eyes."

"What? Why?" Talos hated that his eyes closed obediently. He heard the shift of fabric, the creak of a chair. He could smell the woman when they were close like this, rain-soaked earth and bitter crushed flowers. Familiar but he could not place it. It made something deep in Hoban's gut gnash its teeth. The strong hands that parted his shirt and stung him with the antidote had grown confident in their touch.

"There must be a better way of handling this," he grumbled as they set his collar to rights again. He was too aware of the small kindnesses. He wished if they were going to keep him a prisoner that they would treat him rougher. It was too easy to forget the lay of the land in this semi-congeniality.

"My poison, my rules." Talos could feel them shrugging as they walked away. "We should get moving."

The chair creaked as Talos hefted Hoban's body from it.

"Have you even slept?" He asked following them into the tight hallway. They needed to rest and eat not go tearing directly into the jungle.

"Are you worrying about me?" They asked as they kept walking down the hall.

"You forget I am the one that has to keep you alive if you go out there."

"Mostly alive was the deal. I am fine if that goes both ways." They disappeared through a door. Talos squeezed his body in after them. Eyes focused on the back of their head.

"A little late to be negotiating terms don't you think?" He looked up to see ten blinking pairs of eyes staring at him. Soren shot him a deadly look over their shoulder.

"What is he doing here?" Giz demanded struggling to stand as Thalla and Caira were wrapped around him.

"Hoban is our guide on Trillium. You had better get used to him," Soren shut Giz down. He was proving to be harder to control since Cairn as if he sensed some weakness in her. He made her wary the way the storm clouds of his emotions shifted, never truly settling. He had been rattled, she thought, by the joining of Thwane and the natural divide of Thalla's attention.

"What is the plan now we have landed, Soren?" Dek removed his glasses and cleaned them on his shirt. For a moment his eyes looked small and watery before he replaced them.

"Giz and Thalla will come with me to find the others. Everyone else will stay here and prepare to welcome the rest of us."

"What?" Hoban and Giz demanded at the same time. Giz tucked Thalla behind him as if to shield her from the Trill, to her credit she resisted.

"I will go but Thalla stays as far away as possible from him," Giz spit out with venom. Hoban bristled behind her.

"Thalla has a role to play. She is our healer and we may need her." Giz was over eager to swaddle Thalla and protect her. She was a warrior of the Ulohmu and they could waste nothing in the name of sentimentality.

"I didn't agree to taking a whole party," Hoban objected. Soren turned to face him, arms folded.

"My perogative has been clear from the beginning. As you said it is too late to be negotiating terms." Hoban looked exasperated. He took a step closer to her, his size bearing down on Vadir's lithe form. She resisted the urge to step closer to him as well.

His voice was so low it was practically an animal's snarl, "you need to eat and you need to sleep. I will carry you there myself if I have to."

Feeling his growl vibrate in her chest, knowing the others were watching as he beared down on her. It made her angry. So livid that if she could she would sink her nails into his soft downturned face. It also made something dark flutter back. Heat from the challenge. Desire to feel herself thrown over a shoulder and carried away. An excuse to at last give in and be weak. She wanted to be fire and steel but she was scared she was not enough to save Indes and the others. Scared to sleep in case the key to their rescue crept away.

"If you are going to carry me anywhere it will be through the jungle. We are leaving." She hissed at him through her teeth.

"How will I do that and care for the two whelps you want to bring?"

She could feel the collective breath being held as she and Hoban squared off. Every moment he defied her she felt Giz's anger and rebellion gain a foothold. Gentle hands took her shoulders. She nearly jumped in surprise.

She heard Hoban growl behind her as she turned to look at Thwane. When she held Vadir's shape she was slightly taller than him. His face was calm and as he gripped her he radiated easiness. He was the exhalation of breath.

"Soren." His voice wove through to the deep scared part of her. "We will prepare for your trip. You must listen to the man you asked to guide you."

"I-"

"This is between the Captain and I," Hoban grunted. His eyes were narrowed at Thwane but with his emotions locked tight Soren could not begin to guess what he was thinking.

She was suddenly exhausted. The last days and weeks preparing to enter Trillium's atmosphere. The heartstopping feeling of receiving the distress signal. The last twenty hours keeping Hoban on the brink of death. The fear she would kill him by accident. The exaltation of surviving where the other members of Ulohmu had failed. The deep greedy desire to be their salvation. It swept through her like a wave filling a sea cliff cave. Rushing and then emptying. Thwane's hands were still hot on her.

"What are you doing?" She heard Hoban's voice like it was on the otherside of the cliff. It echoed in her. Thwane's hands tightened. They were so warm.

The boy tried to catch Soren as they began to crumple but Talos who had felt the rise and fall of whatever work of empathy the boy was weaving caught Soren first as they began to slip.

His mountain of a body moved nimbly so he could slip his arm beneath their legs and scoop them up. The others looked horrified. The younger rebel and the old man both seemed to sway, their eyes darting toward one another in silent communication. Talos wondered, as he shuffled Soren higher in his grip if they would try and jump him. It was the young woman that sprang to action first. She knotted her fist in the boy's robes and began smacking him on the back with her open hand. Siblings then.

"Thwane, what were you thinking? You can't do that here," her brother only shrugged off her smacks.

"I will take the Captain," he offered with open arms. "It was my fault after all."

"Do what you said you would, boy." Talos took a step back from him. The limp frame in his arms was too broad and lanky to be carried easily by the youth. It would be easier if Hoban brought them to their bed.

Talos slipped backwards from the room. He heard the rush of feet as the spell of horror was broken and they moved to watch him take their Captian to their quarters.

"Where are we going?" Soren groaned into his shoulder.

"You collapsed. I am taking you to bed," Talos answered. He didn't glance down but he knew their pretty blue eyes would be watching him.

"I didn't collapse," they protested. "Thwane- never mind what he did. I can't explain it."

"So the boy has a name." Hoban observed as Soren's head lolled forward again. Soren should not have said that. She was drifting somewhere dark and empty. Secrets wanted to spill out from her. She felt the sway of Hoban's body as he walked them slowly. He took angled shuffling steps so their combined bulk did not brush the metal walls. Is this what she had wanted a moment ago? To be swept away by the tide?

She did not want to know how he got them up the ladder. It was some one armed alchemy of bodies.

"Indes is waiting for me," she murmured as he lay her down on the sheets. Vadir was not much taller than her but he was broader. He took up her bed differently.

"You will be better after a few hours rest."

"Don't let me-" she could hear the broken staccato of her words. Wished her voice sounded stronger. She reached for his arm and barely gripped it. "You'll need me."

The sheet was too trapped under them for Talos to move it so he settled for laying the monstrous hide coat of Hoban's across them.

"I will come to you when it's time," he whispered. They looked so small beneath the wide shouldered coat. Younger when they slept. He wondered who Indes was to them. Why it mattered they were waiting.

* * *

Indes was in her dream. She knew it was a dream because she could no longer feel Vadir. She was too deep within herself.

And Indes was here in the ship her dreams always returned her to. The shield was blown out and the cockpit was scattered with dry leaves.

They would crunch underfoot if anyone came. That was why she had hidden here. And to explore the tech. It comforted her when she felt alone. When the ache of loneliness and inaction ate at her, she could ask what the ship needed and help it. She could protect it from Raiders who would pick it clean.

There was an upturned crate in the centre of the cockpit. Soren slept under the console in a web of wires but she sat and ate on the unfinished wood, charred from the fire in the hold when the ship had crashed. Indes was sitting there now, in her many layered blue clothes. The sun was setting beyond the shield and Soren remembered it as if it was every sunset she had ever seen on Nadiir all layered one on top of the other in minute transparencies.

The calm Indes brought with her was heavy in this dream. Soren could almost believe she was really there.

Soren didn't speak first. She merely sat next to her and rested her head on her shoulder. Her arm wrapped around hers. Indes was always so soft and frail, but with a sharp skeleton like a hollow bird. She smelled of sulfur and metal. A bombmaker.

"You would find a way to tell me you weren't alright, wouldn't you?" Soren asked softly. They both looked out on the orange sun setting through the blue clouds of Nadiir.

She felt through her skin the vision of Indes draw breath, inflate like a living thing and exhale.

"I can breathe, can't I?" Indes answered her.

"I want you to do more than that," Soren answered. She wanted to turn her head but the dream would't let her. She felt the paper thin hand of Indes pat her own. Warm and rhythmic.

"Remember what I said when Ghodar was burned?"

"Those Elder bastards have found us?" Soren asked raising her brow. This couldn't be a true dream, her memories were too intact. Too vital. She remembered clearly escaping the blaze as their encampments burned. She remembered hating her own kind with more passion than she could muster for any obstacle. Indes laughed.

"When the historians asked what I said, put that quick tongue of yours to good use. Remember only that I said 'They can burn our homes. They can smear our name with blood but the next breath belongs to you.' Just take one more breath, Soren. It is alright if time can only be measured from one lungful to the next," she paused thoughtfully. "The other things can stay between us."

Soren laughed. Soon they would be together again. The sunset was still so beautiful. Nothing around them moved.

"I want to trust someone." She said it quietly, looking at how their hands wrapped together. One a deep emerald and the soft peridot of old age.

"And yet you said it like you were asking permisssion."

"They might want something in return I can't give them."

Indes nodded knowingly. She was like a fine bed of sand she filtered the emotions Soren allowed to lap against her. All that remained was pure unclouded feeling.

"Trust is a singular sport." She answered.

Soren groaned and pressed her forehead into Indes firm shoulder. "Sometimes you make no sense."

"With all your empathy, with taking another against your skin, with a lifetime of vulnerability you will never truly know what another person thinks or feels. You must decide to trust them or not. They do not get an opinion on the matter. Neither do I."

"What if I trust them despite what my brain is telling me? What if I trust them and I have no reason to?"

"Then betrayal will hurt more because you have no way to guard against it. That trust will be the arrow between your scales. It will be what fells you."

Soren felt her heart clench. She had wanted Indes to tell her everything would be alright.

"Then what do I do?" She moaned into Indes' rough coat, patches of it were crisp with dripped sodderings and others smelled of sour acid wash.

"Be hurt, Soren."

* * *

"I think he is hurt, Soren" Thalla whispered hurriedly. The girl tried to shake her but Thalla seemed hesitant to touch her.

Soren came out of the thick dream too quickly and her head fizzed.

"Who is hurt?" She asked vaguely registering Thalla's words and the weight of the coat on her.

"The man. He is shaking. He said to come get you."

Soren sat up, the fog clearing. Hoban. She had slept too long. Hoban needed her.

She grabbed up the coat, one hand rubbing over her ribs to ensure the antidote was still hidden there. She shrugged her shoulders into overlarge coat and it draped low on her. Too large to be worn easily. Except she only needed her hands free so she could get to him. He would need his coat back.

"Where is he?"

Thalla was giving her a strange look. Soren checked to make sure Vadir was still in place. Her hands were tanned and large. All was as it should be.

"The cargo bay." Thalla answered at last. Soren took off at a run, the buckles and contents of the coat jangling.

Dek almost tried to stop her as she moved down the hallway but he jumped back into the galley when he took one look at the set of her jaw.

When she entered the Cargo bay Giz was sitting on a stack of crates, looking down on Hoban who was breathing heavy.

"I am getting sick of this game," Hoban grunted when he saw Soren. His breath thick like resin in his lungs.

"I told you not to let me sleep too long," Soren hid the motion of retrieving the antidote in the volumes of the coat.

"What's going on, Soren?" Giz asked from above them. Hoban looked like he could eat the boy alive for his continued impertinence.

Soren ignored him as she pressed the needle into his neck. Hoban choked into the sensation of pain easing and the antidote pushing the poison back.

"You're wearing my coat," he observed as Soren spirited the small silver cannister away.

"You forgot it," she said tugging the collar so it almost sat right on her shoulders. "I think it suits me."

"Don't get too comfortable," he muttered through teeth still clenched from discomfort. She felt that strange dark flutter again.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Camp

The jungle called to Soren. She could feel it beyond the metal belly of the ship, encroaching on them, pushing forward. She was ready to embrace it. To enter its confines and to navigate its gnarled guts. Nothing about it frightened her as much as the idea of arriving too late. Of losing Indes and the others. She checked the packs with vigor looking into each one to ensure nothing had been forgotten. As she neared Hoban's he scooped it up and threw it over his shoulder.

"Nevermind what is in mine," he muttered walking down the gangplank and out of the maw of the ship.

"How do I know you aren't stealing?" She called after him shouldering an equally heavy burden. He may be a tower of brawn but Soren was wrapped in the muscles and sinews of Vadir and his body would not fail her.

"What could I fit in my pack that would not be fair game considering you have offered me no payment?" He countered. He turned and descended the plank backwards as he spoke. The sun rose on his girth like it was cresting a rolling hill.

"I believe we were bartering with your life. Do you value it so little?" She asked kicking a stone so it skittered over the gangplank and passed his feet.

"I only took this as a sign of your word. You have not paid me yet, boy." Hoban tapped the dull silver disc in his neck. The dark flutter returned and Soren was briefly pulled back to the feeling of being hoisted up the ladder in his arms. He was not handsome like Vadir, his dark eyes almost red they were so deeply amber and his face was squashed but the movement of his body fascinated her, as did his way of navigating a situation. Taking control without crushing those around him. Bearing the ire of the others without a flinch.

If she closed her eyes she could feel the pull of him wherever he was as if his bulk formed a planet and would happily catch her in his orbit. It was a different type of attraction than when she wanted to shift into another.

Soren had been drawn to Vadir because his eyes were like stolen chips of sky. Not just blue but ethereal. Otherworldly. A horizon she had thought she had had to part with. The idea of having them to see in the mirror for a little longer had given her the courage to approach him. To ask something unbelievably intimate of him. To risk rejection. This skittishness was a chink in her armour. She hated carrying a weakness in her.

Hoban, despite his coarseness, never feared such things. She could sense it from him. A man who pursued fearlessly. He would be a good guide in the jungles of his home planet.

He stood just beyond the shadow of the ship, his eyes scanning the horizon. Soren pulled up the beam on her scanner. It was bulky and cobbled together from many different parts but it worked. Much like Soren herself. She was made up of all the pieces she needed from others. Their usefulness making up for her lack of wholeness.

Talos was aware of the swaggering Captain following him down the plank. They had changed from the flowing linen they wore in Aloma to hide pants, tight to their long legs with a loose shirt and their own leather jacket. He had reclaimed his after some minor threatening. He did not like the way it had engulfed them, making them seem smaller, making Talos think of them as someone in need of his protection.

The congeniality had to end. It would not serve either of them. Especially when it came time to alert the Council of their location. While Soren slept he had crept away to find his commlink still nestled at the bottom of Enzo's bag. He had yet to activate it but he could feel it burning a hole in his pocket. These people were not what he expected of the Ulohmu. They were children and an old man. They cared only about uniting with one another. They were mad. They were rebellious but Talos could understand the desire of youth to push against the world as it was. It was only once you had worn your own groove, by throwing yourself against the way of things, that the sharp edges of conviction dulled and you began to understand how you fit in with the greater "good" and how meaningless it all was.

Only Soren stirred his concern. They were the unknown factor. The swashbuckling leader. He could see in them the fervour to carry idealism to dangerous heights. He had to warn the Council. First though, he needed them to charge boldly into the nest of the Ulohmu and reveal its location to him. And he found with each passing hour he needed more desperately to know how they fit into the organization. Who were they?

He drew a deep breath. Far away Hoban could smell sulfur pits and rot. He did not know why a species living on such a sulfurous and stench filled planet developed such a keen sense of smell. His only reasoning was it allowed them to survive by being able to detect beneath the all encompassing reek. While others were overwhelmed the Trill could hunt beneath the gaseous bursts from the planet that seemed to be hell bent on digesting itself.

Soren drew level with him, wrapping a scarf over their mouth. They glanced at him from the corner of their blue eyes.

"A lovely place to settle. I am sure you will be comfortable here," Talos commented keeping his eyes on the jungle in front of them.

"You are harsh on your homeworld," they answered, hefting their equipment in the air searching for something he could not see.

"I had the sense to leave," he responded but deep in him Hoban growled that he was lying. That he didn't understand. Talos stepped on his anger. He had no honour to uphold when it came to the man's truth. He was somewhere far away still living. Talos was merely borrowing his face.

Thalla and Giz joined them in front of the ship. All were dressed for the trek. It seemed at the very least they had some sense of the task in front of them.

"Why did Indes choose this place? It seems miserable," Giz complained. Soren glanced at Hoban before shooting Giz a look. His face was well wrapped beneath a scarf that he pulled down to talk.

"There is nothing wrong with this place," she answered, pointing in the direction of a low dip in the jungle that spread out in front and behind them. Behind her she knew Giz was sulking. She did not want to offend Hoban or give him more pieces than he needed to get them to their goal. "The signal is coming from over there."

Talos grunted, filing away the name Indes. So Soren was not their leader. He glanced at the tall young man with his whipcord body and handsome features. He wondered if the woman who had haunted his dreams was closer than he realized. There was no sense in delaying. He warned Hoban the hulking man better keep them alive.

* * *

They stopped by a stream the acrid humidity of the jungle trickling bitter sweat into their mouths. It had been hours already, they had moved through densely packed trees at a slow pace. The dark green leaves had sharp paper thin edges that stung when you pushed them away and their boots were coated with red mud. Misery had descended on them quickly, but Talos had ignored it. They would camp tonight and the misery had only just begun.

Thalla looked down at the dark rippling water warily, "is it safe to drink? It looks deadly."

Talos knelt Hoban's body low and scooped some up in his hand. Hoban felt no fear so Talos slurped it down. It fizzed against his tongue, small gas bubbles forming in his throat. It was dense with minerals but not deadly.

"Not to me," he grunted lifting more to his mouth.

"You aren't the one we are worried about," Giz snapped at him. His hand catching Thalla's forearm so she could not slide on the dark red sludge of the bank.

Soren let their feet slide on the bank and joined Talos on the edge, their hand caught his shoulder so they did not fall in. They reached to scoop some water but Talos stopped their hand.

"Don't be reckless. You have my barter." Last thing Talos needed was Soren dropping dead before they reached their destination. Soren rolled their eyes.

"Someone has to try it for the rest of us." They pulled their scarf down low and scooped water up to their mouths. Talos watched their nose crinkle and the water run down their chin. They coughed as they swallow and Talos felt his body tense as their hand gripped tight on his shoulder. The girl on the bank had gone pale and had made to move to Soren's side but the boy held her back. His eyes watching closely. Talos did not trust him.

At last, the coughing stopped and Soren panted. "It tastes terrible."

Talos for a moment wanted to push them into the water.

"We might as well make camp here near water," he said lumbering back up the stream's bank. "We will sleep in shifts in case the wild life comes out to play. Two in the tent, two at the fire."

"I will be with Soren," Thalla offered.

That suited Talos fine. He wanted to watch the young rebel and stop him from being foolish.

"No," Giz protested.

"Don't worry, boy I don't bite." Talos grunted at him as he moved to unpack their tent.

"Each team should have a m-" Giz began to protest. Soren cut him off.

"Only if you take the first sleeping shift," they said to Hoban. "It has been longest since you rested and you will serve us best in the dark."

Talos only grunted. He did not want to admit how his body ached for proper sleep.

The camp was made quickly. Soren left Giz whispering hurried directions to Thalla by the fire, the remnants of their meal stacked for washing. Thalla humored him her eyes following Soren as she ducked in the tent.

The humidity was caught in the waxed canvas, the light of the fire playing on the sides and the insides warmed with lamp light. Hoban had laid his jacket on the floor and stripped away his shirt so he could roll it into a meager padding for his head. He glanced at Soren when she came in.

"Do you think the boy is more scared you will seduce his girl or that I will kill him in the night?" He asked stashing a pistol beneath the tight coil of his shirt. His muscles moved beneath his skin, in places dark with deep purple freckles. Soren tried to focus on his words. She sighed. Perhaps she should have left Giz behind. She could not trust his moods of late. She slipped a hand beneath her shirt trying not to inhale the smell of Hoban that seemed to fill the tent or to think of her fingers moving over Vadir's flesh.

"Should he fear either?" She asked removing the antidote. Hoban glanced at how near she crept. "How are you feeling?"

His hand reached for the disc. Touching it had become habit.

"Like I am glad you have come," he said in a low voice. "Aren't you tired of this yet?"

Soren knelt on his jacket as he turned his neck for her. She felt the flitter of nerves when she realized his bare shoulder would be beneath her hand, tough sinewy muscles without the concealing layer of clothes. Ocean and sweat rolled off of him. Her nose long dead to the sulfur in the air, he smelled so vital. His skin was suprisingly smooth where her hand dug in. Like iron beneath the skin of a moragu fruit. And almost the same colour. As she made to press the needle to his neck her knees slid on the slick leather of his coat. His hand shot out to steady her. She could taste her heartbeat and she found she held his eyes without meaning to.

"Are you going to tell me who we are going to meet?" He asked her lowly.

"I don't trust you," she answered him. She still gripped his shoulder and his hand still caught Vadir's coat.

"Yes you do," he replied. His eyes glancing at her hand, willing her to acknowledge she was clinging to him.

"But I shouldn't," she stuck the needle into his neck and he hissed. She retreated quickly from the tent where the world was darker and the air less lush.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tent

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear this story has plot in it somewhere

Talos laughed to himself as Soren skittered from the tent. The small shooting pains had begun just before they had come to him. He had not being lying when he said the sight of them made him glad. He wondered if this dependence he had on them was making him soft. Conditioning him silently to feel safer when they were in his sight. The way they touched him didn't help. Hoban was not used to living without the touch of another. Enzo had dreamed of love but Hoban wanted sex. In the wilds, he was a tower of focus and control. He could wait in complete stillness for as long as he needed or move with lightning speed when there was game to be had. In a port city he pursued pleasure with the same focus and he could smell something on Soren that told him willingness was close to the surface. Curiousity as powerful as desire when it came to seduction. They were perhaps not Hoban's usual fare but his prediliction for sex was caked around Talos' loneliness for his own kind.

While Hoban tried to stir in him hot blooded desires Talos was as desperate to see their true faces. To see his own kind. He argued that was the fascination Soren held for him. He wanted them unmasked. Bared before him and answers to spill out of them.

He could still feel the ghost of their touch on his skin when the tent brushed open again. The sour faced boy crawled through. Giz, Talos reminded himself. He had sandy coloured hair and tanned skin. His eyes the strange white green of lichen on a tree trunk. They gave an impression of him being wiser than he was. The eyes of an all seeing deity in the head of a compulsive moron. The whelp curled his lip at Talos as he hunkered down to his own spot on the ground. The tent which had felt small and intimate when Soren had been with him now felt as wide and as empty as a chasm.

"If you make one move towards me I won't hesitate to kill you," Giz warned. His words were bitter and fizzed with disgusted. Talos snorted.

"You could try, boy. Running would be a better use of your energy."

The boy stiffened. Offended. His eyes swept Hoban's sloped shoulders and densely packed muscles. Talos acknowledged his observation with a crook of his eyebrow.

"You are a coward for not taking the first shift," Giz spit out. The worst insult he could think of. Talos just huffed in laughter again. He lay down on his coat, the leather becoming tacky against his skin in the humidity. He forgot Giz for a moment as he thought how close he had been to rolling Soren beneath him in this very spot. Giz was impatient for his retort. Desperate for an argument, some reason to strike out at him. "Did you hear me?"

"I heard you," Talos muttered bringing an arm up to shield his eyes from the bright. "Turn off the lamp before you sleep."

The annoyance poured off the boy in thick wafting breezes. Talos knew what it felt like to be thorny and desperate for a fight. To want someone else to eat your anger, to swallow your frustration with a life spent running. It fell to him now to be the bigger man. To be who his commanders had been to him. Hard, cold and ultimately the whetstone that sharpened the blade. To make a blunt instrument useful.

"You would leave them out there in the trees with a dying fire?" He demanded, kneeling on his bed roll. He was like a fussy child not easily put to sleep.

"And two longblasters, with you and I a stone's throw away. Do not try and challenge my pride. That is the first way the jungle will kill you."

Giz made an angry sound before flopping himself onto his bed roll.

"The lamp, boy" Talos growled. He felt the urge to take Giz by the collar and drag him out to Soren. Tell them to stop coddling the boy.

Not that Talos' approach was working any better. The light was still on and the tent was hazy with the pup's purulent rage.

"We should leave it on. In case we are needed."

Talos scoffed. "That will really attract the beasts to us. Your captain is keeping the fire low for a reason. Light in the darkness makes you a target."

"If you were really worried you would be out there and Thalla would be in here."

Talos lifted his arm to look at the boy. He was curled on his side with his back facing Talos. Sulking. Romantic assignations foiled. He wondered what the boy would say if he knew Talos would have preferred other company, that he was growing as fascinated with their captain as any sweaty palmed youth growling for their first taste of flesh. That the girl had so readily partnered with Soren told Talos everything he needed to know about her feelings on the matter. She was safer out there than in here.

"You are welcome to trade places with her," Talos turned back as if he had not been observing him. He shouldn't pick at the boy.

"You don't deserve to even look at her," the boy muttered. Talos could hear him rolling on the mat. Hopefully that meant the light would be put out soon. Talos chuckled.

"Believe me, boy. I am not looking."

Talos could feel Giz's contradiction bubbling. He couldn't counter Talos and insist she should hold his interest without undoing his whole declaration. To think only hours ago Talos had feigned interest in the girl to bait Soren. In his defense, from a distance he had not seen how young she was. Talos wanted to laugh. Years away from his own people and now he was hidden among them caught up in a childish melodrama.

"You don't have faith in your Captain?" Talos asked into the crook of his arm.

Giz huffed. At last, extinguishing the light. Apparently this was also a forbidden topic.

* * *

Soren was sitting on one of the logs they'd dragged to their fireside to keep their backsides out of the damp. Thalla was curled into her side with her head on Soren's shoulder. The night was deepening and turning cold. Soren had been watching the tent until the light finally went out. She wondered if Giz was giving Hoban trouble. Soren absent mindedly stroked Thalla's hair and the girl sighed. They were warm where their bodies pressed together. Soren wondered if she should build up the fire a little more. She was wary of the night blindness that could come from having too bright a light to watch. If you looked away your eyes would be dazzled by the speckled green orbs of an organ trying to illuminate the dark.

"Do you think the others are alright?" Thalla whispered. Soren knew the girl carried senseless guilt over the fact they had stopped for Thwane and become separated. It rolled off her in white tendrils.

"Yes." Soren gave her a finite answer. Something firm to hold onto. The girl absentmindedly ran her fingernail along the thick seam of Soren's pants. She could feel the pressure making a groove down the centre of her thigh. She could feel other questions running around in the girl's head.  
Soren remembered being this age. It was only a few short years since Soren had reached her majority. She still often felt mired in the doubt that came with being young and useful. Her youth and stormy years lost to needing to be strong. She had repaired their ships and built their tech while Thalla had the weight of their bodies and wellbeing on her shoulders. When she asked if Soren thought they were alright what she was really asking was what would be expected of her when they arrived.

Soren knew why the girl had readily requested to sit watch with her, as well. The beasts outside less overwhelming than the beasts in the tent. At least, a Trillium leopard could be put down with a blaster bolt between the eyes if it got too close. Soren understood what it meant to want someone else's affection as deeply and as ardently as you feared it.

She was grateful Dek was on her team or she would have been over run by lovesick children. Not that Soren could offer them any guidance. The closest she came to intimacy was when she slowly took the form of another. There was no fervour, no carrying away of passions, no all consuming ache. On occasion, with compelling bodies, the act was sensual. A ritual of flesh that held an ocean of desire and curiousity. It was not about her though. She was the one in control. It was the other person then, who gave into the hormones and the endorphines. Soren was the experience. She did not feel it herself except through deep empathy.

"Do you think we will see an animal?" Thalla asked. Soren knew her eyes flicked to the longblaster leaning within Soren's reach.

"I doubt anything will come close," Soren answered. Her hand still stroked the chestnut curls of the head nestled into her shoulder. "We aren't what they like to eat. Hoban is just being cautious."

"Do you think Giz will fight with him?"

"Only every moment he is awake," Soren answered. Thalla laughed. Their whispers would not carry as far as the tent.

"Giz is mad at me. He says if we had been with the others instead of getting Thwane then-"

"Then what?" Soren cut her off. "We would have all been stranded. It was good luck Thwane has joined us. Giz is just jealous he has to share your attention."

Thalla scrunched her nose, baby blue flattery and purple annoyance wafted around them. "Are all men like that?"

"Jealous? Territorial? Think they are always right?" Soren turned her head so she could press her lips to Thalla's forehead before she stood and stretched. She moved around the shallow pit to throw a little more wood on the fire. Thalla watched her, rubbing her hands over her arms. "Statistically I know it can't be true. That they must all be a little different."

Soren stripped her jacket off and wrapped it around Thalla who pulled it close gratefully. The night had been humid at first, coating them in a fine layer of sweat that now wanted to freeze.

"But I have found them all very similar," she smiled wickedly at Thalla, who laughed.

"I am sure they say the same about us."

Soren smiled. Vadir had been sweet, but when she had stripped away his shirt so she could run her hands over his chest he had tried to kiss her. She had let him. For a moment. It was less awkward to learn his mouth this way than staring into it, she had reasoned with herself. He had asked her with swollen pride and desperate lips if she kissed everyone she simmed. No doubt picturing her and the girl whose face she wore, wrapping intimately around each other. His pride had swollen more when she told him 'no, not every one'.

"I find us all very different. Obviously the men are the wrong ones," Soren nodded very solemnly but a smile pulled at the corner of her mouth. Thalla covered her mouth so she could collect herself into mock sincerity.

"It's very funny to hear those words coming out of that mouth."

Soren looked down at the flat planes of Vadir's body. It was growing less and less jarring to see his face reflected back at her, even though her cells were growing more and more tired of holding onto him.

"It's still me inside," she sat next to Thalla again willing herself not to shiver with cold. She wanted the girl she had dragged along to keep her jacket and be warm.

It was a redundant thing to say. Thalla knew as well as she did what it was like to shift. Soren just needed to remind herself it was true.

"I have never shifted into a man," Thalla looked her up and down. "Did you pick him because he is so handsome?"

"It's not about looks," Soren said sagely. Thalla bumped her knowingly in the ribs with her elbow. Soren smiled. "It's a little bit about looks."

"Is it romantic?" Thalla sighed in a way only seventeen year olds can sigh. "Wait, do you look at their- you know?"

Soren hoped the firelight hid her blush. She wondered if she had ever been so dewy and naive asking questions of Indes and the other women of the Ulohmu. She coughed.

"Only when they offer," she answered tightly. She prodded the fire with a stick. Thalla chuckled giddily into her hands.

"Soren. You are bad," she said with an openly reverent tone.

"You don't know the half of it, kid." She knocked Thalla in the ribs, trying to laugh quietly at her own embarrassment. She wondered if the boys were sleeping yet.

* * *

Talos was aware someone was crouched over him. His senses woke him slowly as they pushed the flap of the tent open. By the time they hovered above him he was fully awake. His eyes were used to the dark, their movements were hesitant. He struck rolling them beneath Hoban's weight, body pressing down on them.

Soren bit back a shout of shock as she felt Hoban's iron grip on her wrist and the world turned itself upside down. She hissed as his weight knocked the air out of her. Her shirt where she had lifted it to retrieve the anitdote stayed rucked up and their bare skin where it touched burned.

"It's just me," she whispered, the breath being crushed out of her.

"What were you doing?" He asked his weight barely shifting. The pressure of him was unrelenting.

"It's time for your next dose," she grit through teeth that wanted to chattered. She reached out with her empathy to ensure Giz was still asleep. He was.

"Why are you cold?" Hoban seemed in no hurry to let her out from underneath him. Their legs were tangled together her feet coming barely to his mid calf. His face hovered over hers. She could tell now, that compared to his furnace-like body, she was freezing cold. He rolled his hips into hers, shifting the weight off her stomach so she could breathe, if her mind could stop racing at the thought of being under him.

"It gets cold at night," she tried to sound nonchalant, irreverent. Like she didn't desperately want to snuggle into his all encompassing warmth. Or know just how much power he kept coiled inside. She sighed, hollowing out her body with an exasperated breath. She could have sworn he sunk deeper into her. "Are you going to make me dose you from the floor?"

He smiled at her. His teeth gleamed in the low light of the tent.

"Are you sure that's why you are here? You didn't come to warm up?"

Talos could feel the stirrings of the poison in his blood. Maybe that was why his pulse was beating this way? Maybe he was too weak to roll off of them? He felt their hand move between them, he saw the flash of silver as it emerged between his arms like posts on either side of their head. It stung more than usual as the pneumatic hiss of the needle punched out of the silver tube into his neck. Instinctively he grabbed the wrist that held the cannister and shoved it away from him. Pinning it into the dirt above their head.

"Are you trying to hurt me?" He snarled lips brushing their ear. It would do no good to wake the boy next to him. Their position was compromising at best. Damming even. They were stretched against each other, hips nestled together. If Talos wanted he could run his free hand along their elongated side and count their ribs through the thin layer of their shirt.

"You try doing it well from this position," they hissed back. They turned their head to speak lowly to him, their lips brushed his cheek.

"You should have woken me first," Talos let the weight of his hips pin them to the ground as their feet tried to gain traction beneath him.

"I was going to before you attacked me," his weight made their voice breathy. They sucked in air as Talos' hand found their ribs. He rubbed into their cold flesh through the coarse fabric.

"If it's so cold where is your jacket?" he asked. He couldn't decide if the ripple of their body against his was a futile attempt at escape or an unconscious desire for the warmth he generated.

"The girl was cold," they panted out.

"You are cold," he emphasized. He pressed his open palm over the frozen hand above their head. Trapping it between the dirt and his body heat. "Stop squirming and I will warm you up."

"I have to get back to her. She is all alone," Soren protested. A gentle reminder they were not alone. They stilled anyway. Talos released their hand and lifted his body off them slightly. The heat heavy between. Their hand brought the cannister between them. Tucking the metal into a pocket of their pants so it dug into Talos' hip. Time seemed to slow as they looked down at each other, mouths so close they borrowed each other's air.

"Stay. I can keep you warm." His voice sounded desperate even to his own ears. Their hands moved back over his chest. Fingers tracing and sliding over his skin, he wondered if he would have shivered at the touch even without the cold. Their hands met his shoulders. Fingers digging for a moment into flesh.

"But then I will be even colder without you," they whispered into the hollow of his neck just beneath his ear. They pushed him away and he let them. Rolling so they could make a quick escape into the star filled night.


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I significantly rewrote this chapter.  
So if you read it last night it is now very different.

Soren's retreat from the tent had not been silent or stealthy. The weight of Hoban's hips grinding into her own had left her legs nothing but pins and needles. Her knees disobeyed as she tried to negotiate the low flap of the tent and she nearly fell. She was certain Hoban would be laughing at her if she turned around. Her heart ached it beat so fast. She shouldn't have let herself be ambushed by him. She had to shut out the curiousity being beneath him had awoken in her. His body was so heavy weighing her to the hard unrelenting ground, the leather of his coat creaking as they moved. She had felt for a moment like he would crush all her disparate pieces together into something that made sense.

As she stumbled in the dark back to the low light of the fire she rubbed her palm hard over Vadir's face. Maybe if she pressed hard enough she could scrub the embarrassment off her. Giz had been so close. Asleep but at any moment he could have rolled over and seen them. This wasn't how a leader behaved.

Useless adrenaline still coursed through her as she reached the fire. She grabbed up a stick and herded the coals to the centre. The smell of wood smoke was comforting. It filled her senses and pushed deeper into her the smell of salt and air that clung to Hoban. If only she couldn't smell him or feel the ghost of his touch hanging on her skin. She laid a log on the stirred coals and watched as tendrils of glowing red embraced the wood from beneath. Wrapping it and eating it like some great leviathan from the ocean capturing a sailing ship.

"Soren?" Thalla's voice was full of sleepy concern. Soren wondered at the emotions that must have been pouring off her. Thalla could not read the changing tides in others as Soren could but she felt the movement of the waves. "Did something happen?"

Thalla had slid off the log and was curled into the dirt warmed by the fire. Soren's jacket was too big on her as she pillowed her head on her arms away from the bark. Only the tips of her pale fingers were visible passed the deep brown leather. Soren wanted to gather her up and treat her better than Soren had been at her age. She wanted to take the weight of the war onto her own shoulders and let Thalla and Giz be idiots beneath the safe canopy of her body, grown to a thousand times its size so all her people could be sheltered.

Being allowed to make mistakes. To be selfish. To be battered about by the tempermental winds of youth gave you strong roots and a thick skin. Soren sheltered and afraid in the guts of a ship had no resistance. Hoban's meager offer of warmth had nearly felled her.

Thalla started to sit up from where she was draped over the log. Soren realized she hadn't answered her.

"It's fine. Nothing happened." She stood from where she was crouched by the fire and went to sit next to Thalla. She stretched her legs out and patted her thigh. The sleepy girl slid down gratefully and put her head in Soren's lap. Soren traced the small shell of the girl's ear with Vadir's long slender finger.

"You are holding this form so well," Soren complimented her. Her hand moving to squeeze her shoulder through the jacket. Small ripples of pale pink happiness radiated from the girl. "When I was your age I couldn't hold anyone for more than a few hours."

"Why not?"

Soren shrugged, "I didn't have the patience you and your brother were raised with. I was very angry."

"I am surprised Giz can hold anything then," the girl muttered and Soren laughed. She patted Thalla's side in the slow even rhythm she remembered her mother doing to her when she wanted Soren to sleep. The girl's breathing slowed.

It was quiet for a little bit.

"Why did you go into the tent?" Thalla's voice was soft on the edge of sleep. Soren considered not answering her and letting her drift off. Except she remembered how annoying it was when the adults expected you to help them but ignored your questions.

"Hoban needed me," she answered. The only sound around them the slow padding of her hand on the leather.

"Again?" Thalla yawned fighting sleep.

"I injected him with a thallium disc. He will keep needing me until he delivers us to the others." She stopped her patting as she felt Thalla stiffen.

"Is that why he is helping us?" She asked her voice caught under her ribs.

"I don't know anymore," Soren answered truthfully. She reached out with a string of white calm she had gathered from Hoban on the ship and looped it slowly around Thalla again and again. She felt the girl drift off at last as Soren hung her head back and watched the twinkling of the stars.

Hoban was nothing like how the locals described him at Aloma Port. She had expected to find a brute. Someone who could be purchased easily. Thick tongued and deadly. She had been prepared to cut off his hand should he glance too hotly at Thalla. She had been prepared to offer coin for every task. She had wanted to despise him. To use him then abandon him here. The precaution of the disc in his neck now seemed ghoulish. It made her feel evil.

He had wit. He had focus and skill. He could be gentle. She hated that she wanted to explore the depths of him more thoroughly than she had with Vadir or any of the others. She wanted to take him into her body and understand the strange circuitry he had brought to life in her. Pulses of electricity trying to run with no where to go. Confusing her.

She was cold and sleepy. Colder for having been so warmed by Hoban's body. She would have believed the small tent had been heated by the furnace of his body. That even from across the space his body burned hot enough to keep her alive.

The fire was starting to burn low. The last log consumed and cracked apart. She could not reach for more without moving Thalla off her lap. She was trying to strategize how to free herself when there was an animal sound deep in the jungle. A half snarl, half cry. It sounded vicious and deadly as if it echoed in the deep chest of a massive cat. The image of dripping teeth and claws made Soren's breath lock in her chest.

Her hand reached slowly to the side for the longblaster. She kept her eyes on the edge of the jungle. In the dark, the fronds looked like hundreds of grabbing hands with thick curved fingers. There was the sound of a rock skittering across the dirt. Soren twisted so fast to look behind her the air left her body in a hiss.

"Settle down. It's only a mating call. That leopard has other things on its mind than eating you," Hoban's voice was a low growl in the darkness. Soren released the breath she was holding.

"Why are you awake?" She couldn't see him in the darkness beyond the low light of the fire. It seemed an impossible feat for such a huge man to simply disappear.

"We trade places soon."

He emerged with an armload of wood. He put it on the ground beside the fire.

"Is Giz awake?"

"No, thank the old gods for small miracles." He sounded so relieved she had to laugh.He crouched and shrugged off his jacket. He lay it over the log and Soren glanced at it greedily.

"Put it on," he instructed her, not turning to look as he began building up the fire.

"Won't you be cold?" She asked draping it over her shoulders. Delicious heat seeped into her skin. She argued it would help keep Thalla warm so it would be wrong to refuse it.

"I will take it off you before then," he growled as the fire grew brighter. Soren's throat went dry with the promise in his voice.

"Don't build it up so high," she said around her sticking throat.

"Just don't look into it." Hoban kept his head turned away from the fire as he spoke so his jagged profile was lit in sharp relief. He shouldn't be so beautiful to her but he was. She looked at the fire instead to shutter the feelings bubbling somewhere below her ribcage. She could feel the heat pouring over her, drying the tissues in her body and stinging her skin. It felt like the deep orange at the center was slowly consuming her eyes.

The world went dark as Hoban loomed over her. His one foot between her legs that were trapped beneath Thalla who felt like lead. His other knee pressing into her thigh. He covered her eyes with his palm while the other hand braced on the wood behind her back.

"What did I just say?" He asked in a low threatening growl. Glowing coloured swirls painted his palm as Soren's eyes protested the sudden darkness. "You won't see danger coming if you make yourself nightblind."

Soren thought the danger had already found her as her heart thudded and Hoban's voice was close enough to vibrate in her chest.

"Then why build it up so high? I had it under control," she protested trying to set Vadir's jaw in a cocksure manner.

"The cold will be the second thing that kills you in the jungle. And if you go to bed cold you won't get warm. So I don't think you had it under control at all, Soren." The way he said her name dripped with some unknown poison. As if he knew all her secret weaknesses and would feed them back to her. She licked her lips.

"And what is the first?"

"Being foolish enough to think you are smarter than the jungle."

"Says the man with his back to it," she wondered if Hoban realized how close they were. She wondered how well he could see her in the shadow of his body. Could he see the way her pulse thudded in her throat? The way her tongue and teeth wanted to worry her lips?

"Go wake, Giz and I will take Thalla to bed."

"The boy is better sleeping. Obviously one guard is sufficient." Hoban made no effort to move. She felt like they were locked in some sort of battle of the wills. A contest she hadn't realized had started until they were already in the thick of it.

She could feel his gaze move from where he covered her eyes down over her mouth all the way to where Thalla was curled in her lap. Her hand instinctively covered the girl's shoulder. She would give anything for some hint of what Hoban was feeling in that moment. She would be livid if his judgment was directed at the young girl.

"Giz isn't so bad. We were all impatient at his age," she felt defensive of her crew. She could find them irritating. She wouldn't extend Hoban the same luxury.

"You should handle him better," Hoban dropped his knee to the ground, his voice gravelly and chastizing her. The small shift of his body wrapped him even more around her, like an arch she was hiding beneath. She curled her lip at him. He may be right but it was none of his business.

"I can barely handle you and you would die without me. I have no chance against a lovesick teenager," she was mocking herself. Hiding her failure behind the bravado of futility. The truth was Giz's passion scared her. His idealism ignited in her the desperation to impress. To satisfy the illusion of the fearless leader. He made her make bad choices. She would rather give him a long chain and let him snap at Hoban's ankles until they reached Indes. That probably made her a bad leader. She hated the taste of her own weakness and Hoban seemed hellbent on pushing it passed her lips.

"You could handle me if you wanted," he growled. She felt Hoban shift. She froze as his breath crossed her ear and he said the words against Vadir's jaw.

Talos swore if they bit their lip one more time he would kiss them. He had been left hollow and growling futilely on the ground after they left. Hoban had caught the scent of the hunt and sleep would not be his. Earth and vitality filled his senses. The cooling sweat of a vigorous woman. He did not care what she looked like now, crouching inside was his own kind. Ripe and foolishly willing. And cold. That was what bothered Talos that they were foolishly freezing outside. At last, he had given in to the need to shelter and had come out to force heat into their bodies.

He should have known their wicked mouth would give him no peace.

"I don't want to handle you," the words stuck in a throat that had forgotten how to breath. Talos grinned against skin, brushing his cheek against theirs. The scratch of Hoban's stubble scraping against the blue eyed man's smooth jaw.

"Then pay me," he ran his nose along the quivering muscle in their neck. He was aware the girl was in their lap. It must be some trick of empathy that she was still asleep.

"I will. Once we make it to the others."

He wondered if they knew how much they gave away. Without the training of the Council, carried away by the fervour of the Ulohmu they were left with a glaring weak spot. Vulnerability leaked around the edges of their bravado. Talos thought he could greedily lick it off them. As Soren lifted a hand to catch his throat, a weak attempt at holding him at bay, he didn't know what he wanted more their pliancy or their trust.

He knew his only goal should be finding the Ulohmu's nest and turning them over to the Elders. He had another goal. A selfish goal. To drag them from their corrupted path. He moved his hand from their eyes to their chin. He held them firmly in place. Their eyes beneath his hand had been screwed shut. Their lungs pulled in small huffs of air through their mouth. As if they were loathe to smell him.

Soren did not know they were the same kind. Their bodies skillfully hidden behind others. Their people had other ways of finding mates; smell, heart, convictions. The outside was meaningless. He could find as much pleasure from a mate hiding inside a man as he could in any of their forms. Although Soren might have an easier time resisting him if they looked at how ugly his face was.

Hoban howled at him to crush them. He smelled blood and wanted victory. Talos was aware they were not alone. That Soren was still fighting him.

He pressed a kiss to the side of their mouth. Then their jaw, his nose tracing along the points like pins in a map. Beneath their ear was what made them finally pull in a desperate breath. The girl in their lap squeaked as fingers dug into her.

"Careful, if you wake her you will have a lot of explaining to do," he teased. His nose followed the shell of their ear. His voice a whisper that buzzed into their skin.

"And you won't?" Their hand moved from his throat. Perhaps the bob of muscles and the thud of his heart was dizzying to them as their shaking was to him.

"If you look at us, I am clearly the one with better taste."

Soren forced herself to shift away from his dark orbit. She opened her eyes that she had kept closed, as if that excused what she was allowing to happen.

She touched his face. Her thumb brushing beneath his mouth, feeling the stubbled skin catch the sensitive pad.

"I don't care what you look like."

"Good," he grunted turning his head to kiss her palm. He grazed teeth over her. She tried to remember to breathe. He wanted Vadir she reminded herself. The thought doused her in cold water.

"You don't even know who I am," she protested, turning her chin away from the hand that gripped her. She sounded nothing like the swaggering Vadir. She sounded like scared young Soren, cradled in the wires of a ship. Refusing to come when Indes called her.

"I would listen if you wanted to tell me," he moved his other hand to the log and pressed his cheek to hers. She remembered what she knew of trust. That it would hurt.

Talos could feel the resolve weakening. If he could find a way to get them alone. Against a tree would do well, Hoban grunted inside him.

"Now isn't the time," Soren didn't know when the time would be. It might be best to never allow Hoban close to the others. To never give him that power over her. She shrugged his jacket off. It was time she woke up from this foolishness and retreated.  
Hoban pulled his coat back over her shoulders. His amber eyes were red in the firelight. He looked at her with overwhelming, open desire. Vadir pulsed inside her. It felt almost like jealousy.

"We can find privacy," he ran his hands down her arms and her skin was raw with sensation. She wanted to know what he was capable of igniting in her.

  
She couldn't. That way led to danger. Thalla was heavy across her; the lead anchor keeping her firmly in reality no matter how much her heart wanted to float away.  
"There are things you don't know that would make you change your mind." Soren pictured every look of disgust she had ever received when her nature was revealed. She conjured like a shield the way her people were reviled.

"Then say them and change my mind," he growled.

She could not. She started to rouse Thalla. The girl made small mewling sounds of protest.

"They are not secrets that belong just to me. I have to think of the others." It was truth but it soured her mouth like a lie.

"Then just tell me your secrets and forget the others," Hoban snarled at her.  
She focused on Thalla. She had no secrets of her own. She shrugged the coat from her shoulders as she coaxed the half awake girl to her feet. The cold bit her from all sides.

"Goodnight, Hoban" She said finitely. She shuffled with Thalla leaning into her, towards the tent.

"Let the boy sleep if you value his life. I am not in the mood for him."

Talos jabbed harshly into the fire as Hoban growled at him that victory could be won if only he would push for it.

* * *

Soren watched morning rise through the pale canvas of the tent. The night lightened to soft blue as Thalla was curled in her arms. Soren kept her back to Giz, a silent shield. If Soren could know no peace from her pursuer then at least the young girl could rest soundly.

  
Sleep had alluded Soren. She was on the constant edge of going outside to Hoban and laying the truth in front of him. That the crew were part of a fugitive race locked in a silent war with both the greatest military in the galaxy and their own people.

  
That she belonged to a tribe of warrior women. That her own biology could obscure her face and her sex.

  
That she was gathering people and supplies so they could strike out again at injustice on a galactic scale.

  
That if he tried to stop them or turn them in for the reward she would kill him. She would hollow herself out to protect her people.

  
That she didn't even have the body he desired, to lay down as forfeit.

  
That she was certain giving in to him would crush the truth out of her.

Next to her a tendril of surprise and rage wound dark green about the tent. Giz was barely awake and he already exhausted her. She felt him shuffle and the top of the tent rippled as he threw the flap open hard.

Talos heard the crack of cold canvas being pushed aside and the heavy sound of boots in the dirt.  
The boy was awake and didn't know how to move silently. Talos stood and stretched muscles stiff from the cold.

"Our fearless protector is awake," he observed as the boy tramped over to him full of rage.

  
Giz was testing the wrong man's patience if he meant to pick a fight. Talos' ego was bruised from the night before and the quiet had only let the ache seep deeper into his skin.

"You let me sleep to embarrass me," Giz fired the accusation at him.

Talos walked passed the snivelling child to begin to gather supplies from their packs. He could do little with his energy until Soren awoke other than preparing breakfast for them.

"We survived without you, didn't we?"

Giz was shaking with rage. "You think you are so much better than us."

"I never said that, boy," Talos didn't turn to look at Giz as he dug through the packs.

"You do. You look down on all of us."

"I am paid to guide you and not to coddle y-" Talos' words died on his lips as he turned and saw the blaster trained on him. He raised his hands letting the rations fall to the ground. "Now boy, think about this."

There was rustling beside them and Soren emerged from the tent, followed quickly by Thalla.

"Giz?" Soren cried out as she saw him standing with a pistol trained on Hoban.

  
Her stomach fell away and she wanted to run between them. Before she could take a step further Thalla pushed past her and charged at Giz. She threw herself on his back, her legs wrapping around his waist. Her hands beat against his head and shoulders.

"What are you doing?" She demanded as Giz struggled against her.

  
"Thalla, whose side are you on?" Giz demanded as she reached for the pistol, her heels digging into his thighs.

  
"Put the weapon down before someone gets hurt," Hoban kept his voice and his hands level.

  
"Shut up," Giz spat at him as he foolishly raised both hands to pull at Thalla's death grip on his throat. He was going to blow someone's head off. Most likely his own.

  
"Don't tell him to shut up," Thalla growled at him.

  
"How can you be on his side?" Giz panted.

Talos tried to figure out how to disarm him without hurting the girl. Rage that had been growing in the boy spilled over the campsite so potent even Talos could sense it.

  
"He is helping us," Thalla bit Giz's ear. And he bucked wildly. Soren finally found their tongue.

  
"Thalla get off him. Giz drop the weapon before someone gets hurt. You know better," Soren reasoned.

  
"I know you were in the tent with him last night," Giz pointed the gun at her. She looked down at him shocked. "You don't care what happens when we find Indes."

  
"I do," she said trying to wrap him in calm. To make both of the children disengage.

  
The gun was pointed at Soren now and Talos saw red. The boy had no idea what game he was playing.

  
"I can't trust you anymore," Giz growled at her. Soren felt the weight of his disappointment. She had failed him.

  
"You can," she insisted stepping closer to him. Giz stepped back instinctively and the weight of Thalla shifted and he began to slide in the loose dirt. He fought the pull of gravity.

The blaster went off. A light blue bolt burnt the cold morning air. Hoban howled and Thalla screamed.

Soren's side lit on fire. She gasped and gulped in air. She tried to hold onto Vadir as he attempted to flee her body. She stumbled backwards and collapsed into the tent. The canvas shuddered as it caught her weight.

"Soren," Thalla shouted as she dropped off Giz's back and ran towards her.

Giz was frozen. His face was pale beneath his tanned skin. As Thalla kicked off him he was knocked into the dirt. His hands stained red by the earth sticking to them.

"I didn't mean to-" Giz protested as Hoban charged towards the place Soren had fallen.

The sky was painted with beautiful dawn as Soren hissed against the pain in her side. Thalla's open terrified face blocked out the light as Soren shuddered trying to hold onto Vadir. The frightened girl looked at something just beyond Soren's eyeline.

"Move the Captain," Thalla begged Hoban as he came closer to her.

  
Soren felt herself being scooped against a cold body. Fear poured into her from all sides. She felt Hoban's clearest of all. It choked her it was so strong. Like hot mustard weed in her already burning lungs. She coughed as he lay her on the ground. She waved him away. She needed him to retreat as Vadir shook and wanted an escape from the pain. She couldn't lose his body.

Thalla pushed her shirt up and surveyed the damage. The cold morning air made the burning graze in her side sting harder.

"It's not that bad. It's not that bad," Thalla assured her as she held Soren's face. Stroking the sweat that gathered there. She pressed her forehead to Soren's. "Just breathe and let me in."

Soren shook her head. She didn't want Thalla to see all that had passed. The desire that had made her so weak in the night. The doubt about Giz. The fear Indes would hate her. She didn't want the girl to navigate her failings. She didn't want Thalla to take her pain on her shoulders. Soren was meant to protect them.

"You can trust me," she whispered against Soren's resistance. The pain was weakening her resolve. Giz crawled towards her in the dirt, his red hands reaching for her.

"Soren. I didn't mean to-" Giz looked like he wanted to cry. Hoban grabbed him by the collar and lifted him like a puppy most of the way off the ground. Soren shook her head, reaching her hand to him.

"Giz. I know. It's alright," she let her empathy drift to him. Using the small amount of energy she had to calm him. She couldn't stand the taste of his suffering. He was so young.

Thalla looked at Hoban with desperation.

"Make her let me in. I can help." Thalla leaned away from Soren and looked up at him pleading.

Talos felt lost. He couldn't fathom how things had gone so sideways. For the first time since his mother died he was a raw terrified nerve and he did not know what it was the young girl wanted him to do. Or how she thought she could help.

He dropped the moron and knelt beside Soren in the dirt. He pulled the stiff body into his lap.

  
Soren looked up at him, he watched clarity form in their blue eyes as they blinked. They took his hand and skimmed it up their side. Blood made his hand warm. He pushed under their shirt and felt the antidote slip into his hand from their ribs as their form wavered.

  
He knew the young girl watched them. He didn't think this was what she had in mind when she asked for his help.

"Don't die," Soren smiled up at him.

"I could say the same to you," he ran his knuckles down their sharp cheekbones.

Growing impatient, the young girl pressed forward and rested her head on Soren's chest. She lay there for a moment her chestnut curls rising and falling with Soren's shallow breath. Talos felt an incredible surge of empathy, so powerful it seemed to draw him into the two of them. He felt the fear and anger being sucked out of him. He watched as Soren's side stitched itself back together and the girl shook as she pushed harder.

It was sorcery. It was impossible. This was not how their powers worked. Pain did not heal this way. He wanted to shake answers out of the girl. Except she was collapsed on Soren. The two of their heavy breaths lifting their bodies in sync. He could feel the weight of them pinning him into the dirt. Soren was so pale if he could not feel the tight expansion of their lungs against him he would have believed they were dead.

  
At last, Soren drew in a sharp breath, their chest lifting off his knees with the strength of their convulsion. Their arms wrapped around Thalla, who was panting with the effort, and held her hard.

"It's okay. It's okay" they muttered into her hair.

Talos sagged to the side. His eyes locking on Giz groveling in the dirt. Talos could not comprehend what he had just witnessed.

Soren sat up with Thalla still resting on her chest. She urged her upwards so Thalla was kneeling and Soren was sitting in the dirt. She gripped her shoulders hard. Looking into her eyes to assure herself the girl was okay. She summoned bravado and cheer she didn't have.

"Are we going to stay here all day?" She smiled too bright. Her breath was tight and her body sore.

  
Somehow Vadir was still in her cells. Soren struggled to her feet. She glanced at Hoban who looked shocked. He moved to stand as well.

"We should make it to your destination before night fall," he shook off his stupor and grunted. "If no more stupidity befalls us."  
Giz kept his head down as he brushed the dirt from his knees.

Talos looked at the metal cylinder in his hand. Now that the adrenaline had subsided, the poison was biting into him. He pushed needle into his neck, wary they were all watching him. He had never done it himself and found he did not care for it. It was better when hands brushed his face as the antidote entered his blood. Surviving this way was lonely. He passed the cannister to Soren. They looked at him questioningly.

"Are you sure?" They asked taking it from him with hesitant hands.

"We had a deal," he grit out as he walked past them to begin to pull down the tent that had half collapsed beneath Soren's weight. He tried to ignore the curious look the healing witch gave him.


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Closer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I REWROTE 16  
please re read it if you havent yet  
💜💚💙❤DH

The jungles of Trillium were not an easy place to navigate but they were hardly the constant onslaught of danger they were made out to be. It was often not the dangers that killed people. It was stupidity. It was pushing too far on too little, making assumptions instead of knowing for sure. Leaps of faith landed you nowhere but dead in the wild.

That was why their current course felt so foolhardy. Talos led them through the brush with Soren close behind. They shouldn't be walking. They should have stayed at camp. Soren's wound may have closed but Talos was skeptical of such healing. As they had packed up camp no one spoke of the apparent miracle that had taken place. Was this sort of healing common place in the Ulohmu? What other skills were they hiding?

Soren kept easy pace just behind him but that did not stop him glancing over his shoulder every few minutes to ensure they were still there. When Soren caught him looking they would roll their eyes. Sometimes they didn't see him because they were busy looking back at the young ones who were pulling up the rear. Thalla was lagging. The healing had drained her. Talos suspected if it weren't for the pressures of reclaiming their party Soren may have insisted they rest until Thalla was recovered.

The terrain was becoming more difficult and the air was pervaded by the hot smell of sulfur.

"We are nearing the swamps," Talos called over his shoulder, bracing his pack more firmly. "If you value your boots, watch your step."

Around them the tree trunks were smooth, their bark free of lichen and moss. Their branches did not start until far above the miasma of sweet rotting air. The pools of sulfurous slime were still hidden between the crevices of rocks but as they grew nearer and the ground was swollen with it, more sucking burrows would open. The air was silent. No bugs, no birds, no rustle of animals.

Soren looked at her scanner and saw the beacon was close to them now. What hellhole had the others been trapped in for weeks? She reiterated her reasons for going to Cairn, for tarrying when the others needed her. They were good reasons she argued. Indes would understand. She had to understand.

She felt eyes on her again. For the hundredth time. She looked up and saw Hoban paused watching her. She kept walking but it felt like her eyes could not leave his face no matter how hard she tried to look away. The night before and his words hot against her skin came pouring back. He crossed to her in two long strides and caught her by the shoulders.

"What did I just say?" He growled between clenched teeth. His thick fingers bit into her through her jacket. His eyes looked down and hers followed. Between them, her boot resting on the edge was a ribbon of soft loamy black sand. It glittered like small flecks of diamond in the sunlight that managed to cut through the trees.

"Then stop distracting me," she grit back. The space between them was charged with unspent energy, enough to ignite the strip of gunpowder sand between them. Her tongue darted out and wet the chapped arc of her top lip. Hoban made a noise half snarl, half groan.

"I am distracting you?" He asked mockingly. He tightened like a spring and lifted Vadir's wiry body easily over the danger. Dropping Soren on the other side so she almost fell into him.

She turned to the other two behind them, half expecting to meet four wide blinking eyes. Instead she saw Giz hovering close to a wan and panting Thalla. Her hand was braced into her side and every step seemed to cause her pain. Soren felt immediately like a villian for pushing her so hard. She stepped away from Hoban and reached her hand over the sand trap.

"A little farther, Thalla then we can rest," she called. Giz jogged ahead and jumped the slick sand, landing neatly on the other side.

They both reached out and together braced Thalla over the first hurdle.

She landed on the other side and her body sagged. She gripped into Soren's jacket to stay upright. Soren began to shrug off her pack and bend in front of Thalla.

"I will carry you," she insisted as Thalla shook her head.

"You're hurt," she croaked.

"I am fine. You did a good job."

"I will carry you, Thalla," Giz offered. His voice nearly vibrating with conviction.

Hoban rolled his eyes. He shucked his pack and pointed at the girl.

"On my back girl and no complaints. I won't have us all mired in muck because you refuse to be sensible."

If it was possible Thalla went more pale at the thought but she did not argue. She wrapped her thin arms around Hoban's thick neck and he lifted her into the air as if she weighed nothing.

Talos slung his meager pack over one shoulder, so it rested against the girl. There was plenty of room on his broad back. The look of exhausted gratitude Soren gave him would have made a hundred such burdens worthwhile.

They walked in silence for a while. The only communication between them a grunt when Talos needed her to hold on before he took a wide step over a patch of gunpowder sand or a puddle of slime. The girl was half asleep, her head lulled against him. She felt young and vulnerable. Yet she never complained. She had been brave and in control when Soren had been hurt. Talos hoped Soren would bring her with them if Talos managed to bring them back to the fold of their people. If her skill could be taught to others- the thought made his heart ache with possibility.

Her fingers walked back and forth across the disc in his neck. A sleepy childlike fascination.

"Stop touching it, girl" his voice rumbled in his chest. Her small finger paused.

"Is this why you are helping us?"

"It is part of the deal I have with your Captain," he grunted.

She was silent for awhile, her hands clinging to his coat.

"Tell me," Talos ventured sensing her lowered defenses. "Where did you learn that trick you did earlier?"

He felt the girl's breath pause through his back.

"The nuns on Sordona taught me, before I had to go," her voice cracked. Talos knew what it was like to be forced flee a home. Especially your first.

"Why did you have to leave?" He wanted to know what had driven a young girl into the arms of terrorists.

"The Kree came."

"What did they do?" He pictured fire from the sky.

"They lined us all up. They told the others that Sordona was now a Kree planet. That we had to be wary of interlopers. Of Sk-" the girl swallowed the word. Her voice was so heavy with shame Talos felt something claw in his gut. "Of children like me and my brother. They told the others we wanted to hurt them."

"What did they do then?" Talos felt tightness in his chest. He knew this story even if it was not the same as his own.

"They said they would be back. That if we told them who to take away, they would. That the Kree loved the orphans of Sordona and would let nothing happen to them."

Talos snorted. Of course the Kree loved orphans. They were so skilled at making them.

"And did they come back?"

"I don't know. That night all the others, my friends, cried until the nuns walked Thwane and I into the night. That was where the Monks were waiting for us. Except, they would only take Thwane because he was a boy."

"And who took you?"

The girl shivered and Talos had to jog her farther up his back so she would not slip. A question too far, he thought.

They walked in silence for a bit. He could feel a heavy pulse of sadness from Thalla. She was tired and homesick. He could feel it as clearly as he could feel her heartbeat. He had pushed too far already but he needed more.

"Can your brother do that trick too?" The girl might find speaking of her brother easier. They would be close growing up alone.

"Thwane?" Her nose wrinkled. Sibling rivalry thick in her voice. "No. The monks taught him something different."

Talos tried to keep his curiousity out of his voice, "and what did they teach him?"

"Thwane can only do one stupid trick. He steals things."

"He steals things?"

"Yes," the girl's voice had recovered. Happier memories, a spirited complaint about her older brother. "When we first came to the orphanage the nuns would teach us our letters. When Thwane would get mad I was smarter than him he would steal them out of my head."

Talos laughed. She was too old for this kind of nonsense. It sounded like a child's excuse.

"The other boys called him the Dream-Eater, isn't that stupid?"

Talos smiled. He remembered being with the other Skrull children on Zendinar. They would give each other codenames when they played. A break from the monotony of lessons. A legend built around their own meaningless lives.

"Codenames is a game all young boys play. Didn't your brother give you one?"

"No," she scoffed. False bravado over a childhood slight. "He was just being a dumb boy."

Talos ducked low so branches would not brush her face as he followed a narrowing path. He could hear the others behind him. Thalla turned her head into his neck and he could feel her face scrunch against the falling dried leaves.

"Did you have one?" She muttered into his neck.

"Face-Taker," Talos answered her, the truth tumbling from him before he could think. He was lost in the memory of the other skrull kids being in awe of him. Of the control his mother had taught him from a young age.

"What does that mean?" She asked. Talos' stomach fell. He was forgetting that he was the interloper among them.

"I don't remember," he grunted. Hoban looked older than Talos by a good two decades. He must look ancient to someone as young as Thalla. "I'd call you Stitcher based on that trick you did today. What would you call me?"

She laughed.

"Soren calls you the Beast," she offered. Talos felt Hoban growl possesively in his gut. He glanced back as best he could at the ones behind him.

"When do they do that?" He asked.

"In their head. I saw it when I stitched them up. Do you want to be the Beast?"

Talos made a snarling sound and Thalla laughed.

"What would you call Soren then?" Talos was hungry for another piece of the puzzle. He wanted more of them. He especially wanted to show them how much of a beast he could be.

Thalla hummed. "Soren's hard. They are good at lots of things. That's why they are Indes' favourite."

"And who is Indes?" That was the real question wasn't it? The one Talos actually had to solve. Thalla went quiet. Apparently Talos wasn't the only one who kept forgetting the game.

"I don't think I am allowed to tell you," she said in a small voice.

"Then don't."

Their bodies swayed together as they walked. Thalla's energy had been growing as they talked. Soon he could put her down and they could rest. A small part of Talos would mourn the company.

* * *

"You two were having fun," Soren followed him beneath the brush. They were stopping for food on a rocky out cropping surrounded on all sides by tributaries of rotting slime.

He hoped to find water. They were near where the beacon was coming from but had agreed to rest. If beyond the trees was a scene of devestation it was best they were not exhausted when they found it.

"I told you to stay with the others," he said not turning back to look at them.

"They will be fine. We know Giz's pistol works-"  
Talos turned suddenly. He followed their voice and trapped them against a tree. His hands braced on either side of their head, their blue eyes wide in shock.

"Do not even joke about that," he snarled through teeth that had wanted to sink into them. Only a few days had passed since they met in Aloma Port and he felt them deep in his blood like spider venom. They burned him into gnashing desperation.

"I won't let anything happen to you," they said soothingly brushing with a single finger the place they pressed the needle that continued to save his life. His throat rumbled with an animal sound. On instinct he curled into them. Even under the sweet stench of sulfur he could smell them. Their sweat stung his tongue with salt. It would cling so many hidden places. Places he could find now they were alone.

"It is not me I am worried about."

Soren seemed at a loss for words, their jaw working silently. Their hands moved instinctively beneath his coat. Talos could feel his commlink burning a hole in his pocket. The tool of his betrayal inches from their searching fingers.

Soren did not know what to do. Low in her belly ached with quivering blood. Heat that pooled low to warm the uncharted systems of her body. She only knew to touch and map what held her interest. What ignited her curiousity.

Could she hold both Vadir and Hoban in cells that already ached with fatigue? A body weakened by quickly stitched together wounds. Letting Vadir vanish, releasing him to the sulfurous winds of Trillium would only uncover her betrayal quicker. She would disgust him and their goal was so close.

The truth was, for once she needed another's strength outside of her own body. She could not borrow it into her flesh and persevere alone. She needed him.

The descision was made for her when a blaster bolt burnt the air and embedded in the tree above them. Dead leaves fell like rain as Hoban whirled around sheltering her beneath the bulk.

From the trees a voice shouted, "what do you want here?"


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly I cant tell if this is good or not. I might rewrite it like a fiend later.
> 
> Let me know DH

The shock Soren felt quickly gave way to relief as she recognized the voice.

"Veda," she cried out. "It's Soren."

There was a rustle above them. They were in the trees.

"Soren and who?" The voice insisted.

"None of your business," Hoban growled. Soren pushed out from behind him.

"I can explain everything," Soren called up.

There was a shushing sound and Veda lowered from beneath the canopy of leaves. Her feet braced on the trunk and she controlled her descent with a tug of wire through an autobelayer.

"That would be best. Your friend is a rude one," Veda called back. Soren glanced at Hoban.

She braced herself for his anger, his disgust. Veda, who she addressed as a friend, was swinging above them. She was tall, and strong. Her arms bulged with muscles like gnarled tree branches. Her longblaster was slung over her back. Her skin was forest green dappled with splotches of paler green as if the sun had baked her more in these places. Her nose was crooked. She had broken it in a bar fight a decade ago and it never returned to its original shape.

She was undoubtedly a Skrull. Soren had expected her to be. Indes only allowed shifting in specific instances. Being stranded was not one. Hoban was unmoved.

"Considering you shot at me, I have been polite." Hoban called back. Soren could not take her eyes off of him. He looked at Veda with nothing more than annoyance. As if he sensed Soren had been about to give in to him and was mad at the interruption.

There was a rustle on the other side of Veda's tree and a smaller woman dropped into sight. She was so short when her feet braced on the bark she was barely out of the shade of the narrow tree's canopy. Her face was small and round. If she was closer Soren knew there would be an irreverent twinkle in her eye.

She wolf whistled.

"Soren, that's some shift you have on. I bet that was fun."

Soren blushed. Hoban looked at her over his shoulder something unreadable in his eye.

"Tank, shut up." Veda hissed. She dropped farther down the tree. The belayer hissed with the speed of her descent. Tank followed.

Soren picked across the rocky terrain to meet them at the base of the tree. Soren could hug them she was so relieved but Veda would hate it. So she settled with saluting. Hoban trailed behind her.

"Are there others?" Veda asked as soon as her feet hit the ground. Soren nodded behind her.

"Tank, go get them." Veda unhooked herself from the tree and took proper stock of Hoban. Soren found herself standing in front of her guide. She hated the cold way the older woman's eyes traveled him. "We will go ahead together. The stranger first."

Veda moved her weapon from her back so it was trained on Hoban. He raised his hands, not reaching for the longblaster slung across his own back. Soren raised her hands too, and stepped in front of Veda. They would walk this way together.

"I hope this warm welcome comes with directions," Talos growled. He could not remember the last time he had seen a Skrull face. To not be recognized by his own kind was particularly hollowing when they wore their true faces. The swamp in front of him was a maze of trees. He realized he was woefully without a plan when it came to ambush by the Ulohmu.

"Let's just take it one step at a time," Veda answered and they started to move.

* * *

_The Ibu-Ibu_ was submerged in the gaseous swamp, its nose pointing downward into the muck so that its tail end was lifted in the air. Soren's heart lept to see it. She had spent so many hours of her life nestled in its walls. She had lovingly repaired its circuitry and stripped from it all the ways it could be traced by their enemies. Now sulfur bubbled against its side and clogged its ports. Insidious and swallowing.

"You have come just in time, little Sor" Veda said, invoking Soren's childhood nickname. "We sink more every day."

There was a haphazard tower of wood strapped to the ship. Veda whistled as she approached. The gang plank lowered like a lolling tongue, crunching into the structure. They could climb it to reach the ship doors.

The structure swayed under Hoban's weight. It was not meant to hold something as large and lumbering as him. The sinking of the ship was evident by the angle of the gang plank and the way it scraped the wood. They had to descend down the slipping slat of metal into the ship that was below them. Hoban went first, reaching back so Soren could brace against his weight. Together they climbed into the ship. Veda dropped in lightly behind them.

The angle was just as jarring inside as outside. The hallways pointed downwards. At least the life systems of the ship were able to vent off the smell that rose heavy from the swamps.

"We will wait for the others," Veda instructed her weapon stowed across her back once again. "Don't go in front of Indes like this, Soren."

Her voice was firm. She was used to others following her orders. Talos considered she may have begun as part of the Council trained elite. She wore her weapon strapped the same way he did and she spoke with the same cadence as the soldiers who trained him. It was her words that caught him. His heart was tight at the thought he would soon see Soren's true face.

Soren nodded. For her eagerness to rejoin her friends she was wound tightly now they were here. This was not exactly a warm welcome for them. He wondered if it was the woman or himself who had ruined it for her.

They climbed against the ship to its highest point. Talos had to brace on either side to stop Hoban's great bulk from sliding backwards.

Veda opened a door to a small room above the engine. The door was at such an angle that Soren had to pull her body into it. Hoban made to follow her but Veda blocked his way with a quick snap of her rifle.

She gave Soren a loaded look.

"It's fine, Veda. Tank won't be long and I owe some explanations," Soren smiled weakly. Veda nodded and let Hoban clamber in after her.

The tilt of the room made it so the wall was now the floor. The meager furniture that had been in there before was still secured to the floor so it jutted out at odd angles from the wall. Clothes had fallen from the open doors of the built in cupboards and littered the floor like leaves.

When Talos entered the room Soren already had their back to him. Sifting through the clothes. They held items against their broad chest and hips. They didn't turn to look at him.

"I can explain," they said at last, their voice tight.

"I think I have a pretty clear picture." Talos answered them. He had followed them for answers. The Council needed the information they had to offer but now the opportunity was in front of him he found he couldn't care. What information about the Ulohmu could they give him that he didn't already know? His thoughts were consumed by their true face. How close to the surface the real Soren was.

Soren could not look at Hoban. For all her imaginings, coming clean and admitting the truth was one hundred times harder. He had not been disgusted by Veda. Or Tank. She had never considered it was her as herself that may be rejected by him. That without Vadir the strange desire he had pursued her with would vanish.

"We are not like the others," she carried on. She collected the blanket that had slid from the bed and tied it to the jutting chair. A makeshift barrier between them.

"How so?" Hoban's voice had an edge. She couldn't see him but she could imagine the ripples of betrayal marring his calm surface.

"We don't just take the faces of others or hide. When I don't look like myself it is because someone has agreed to allow me that-" she scrambled for a word that would describe what they believed. How the change happened. "Intimacy."

Hoban grunted on the other side of the sheet. Soren had shucked her jacket but her nerves would not let her release Vadir. She couldn't stand being without him in front of Hoban.

"I just mean it's not what you might think."

Their voice had lost the bravado. Talos wondered if the air felt as heavy for them as it did for him. If the moments before revealing themselves were as tense with anticipation. Except he could not shake the handsome blue eyed bastard from his mind. How was it intimate? How did one request such a thing from a stranger? What did that act entail?

"Why? did you sleep with him?" Talos felt a spike of jealousy he could not swallow around. Jealousy and anger. Would they think he was a thief? Would his true face revealed not be a rush of relief but a damnation of his character?

"Dont be crass," Soren poked their head around the curtain. They looked the same. Hadn't they learned not to let him know when he struck a nerve? He moved closer to the barrier as they ducked behind it.

"Why? Is little Soren too good to play outside the sandbox?" He could hear the cruelty in his voice. The thwarted desire.

"You couldnt begin to understand what it means for me. What I feel when-" Soren was angry. She hadn't anticipated that this would be the sticking point. Her words were choked by a sudden surge of deep wine coloured desire. It spilled from beneath the red of the bed sheet. Hoban was apparently no longer guarding his emotions.

"Lost your words?" He asked. He stalked on the other side of the thin bed sheet like a beast.

"No," Soren breathed between the deep shaking need that had taken up residence somewhere between her pounding heart and her jellied knees. She wasn't ready to lose Vadir but her body was being pushed into a nebulous cloud of sensation by Hoban. She wondered if he knew what he was doing. Even though that seemed impossible.

Talos smiled at the small shake in their voice. Hoban was snarling and gnashing his teeth. He wanted to meet the woman he had been hunting for days, Talos wanted to relieve the jealousy that coated his lungs. He knew he could invade them by relinquishing the guard around his heart. They had tried over and over to break his defenses. Now he could satisfy that curiousity ten fold.

He pushed away the images of a blue eyed man touching them. Of their hands reaching and mapping as they had done in the swamp. He pictured instead the woman who had haunted his dreams. The one who had captured his interest on Cairn. He gave Soren her face in his fantasy. And her slim body. That Talos could lift easily. In his current form she would be lighter than a feather. Easy to hold against a wall, to pin in place.

"Stop it," Soren muttered from behind the curtain. They were breathing hard. Talos reigned in the fantasy. Began to shutter the feelings that poured out of him.

"Stop what?"

Soren wanted to laugh when the feeling ebbed from her. He had to know. He had to know the weight of his feelings were crushing her into the wall. That a pulse was moving through her that would shake apart her carefully held facade.

"I am trying to explain-"

"Show me instead," the words came before he could think better of them.

"What?"

Talos pushed aside the curtain and stepped into the small little world they had made. Hoban filled the space and Soren had to crowd themselves closer into the corner to fit him.

"Show me."

"I can't."

"You showed the others," he growled.

"You make it sound like dozens."

Talos thought one outsider seeing them change was too many. He was greedy for them. He never ever wanted to share. Hoban liked to be first. Soren looked into his eyes and set their chin.

"I understand you have questions-" Soren was trying to appease him. Talos did have questions. He had deep dark questions you weren't supposed to ask of others.

"But do they see your real face? Do any of them touch the real you?"

"No," Soren looked away from him. "Never."

"So tell me, what do you feel?"

"I feel what they feel." That was the trick of it. Pulling in every aspect of them. Not letting yourself be fooled by who you wanted them to be. It was the way their ancestors intended the power to be used, hence Indes' strict edict.

"And what do I feel?" Talos reached out and grabbed their hand. He pressed it to Hoban's chest. He opened himself once more. Soren scrunched closed their eyes, their palm twitched against him. He thought he might be able to drown out the interloper in their cells. The sheer force of his will overpowering whatever they had felt for this man whose face they wore.

"You won't want me once you see it happen," she huffed out the words between the waves of feeling entering through her palm. The space between her cells was thick with him. Vadir pushed back in small tremors. A beetle compared to a mountain. "You are wasting your energy."

"Stop fighting. You have no idea what I want."

She exhaled slowly before she convulsed. Her body tight, denser. Stretching and elongating before shuddering inwards. Talos released her hand so he could watch in awe at the rawness. It had been so long since he had seen this power in someone else. Her clothes sagged around her as she bent forward. Her hands hid her face.

"That isn't what I want," he growled pulling her hands from her face.

"I know," she nearly sobbed. Of course it wasn't.

His hand ducked under her chin and he lifted her face to look at him. It was breathtakingly familiar. As if by magic he had conjured the object of his fantasies.

"This is really you?" He asked stroking her face.

She nodded.

He couldn't speak. Words were beyond him. So he let go of his hold. He let her feel the weight of his feelings. She drew a sharp breath and let her head rest against the wall. She looked relieved as his attraction, his yearning washed her. She smiled to herself as she drank it in. He wondered, as something unclenched in him, if she had felt jealous of the blue-eyed man too.

He would not waste another thought on him when he was gone. Released to the universe. Now only Soren remained. He could not tell her that she had haunted him for longer than she knew. That he had been following her through rubble for longer than he had been chasing the swaggering Captain. He fell to his knees in front of her. Unsure of his next steps he only knew he wanted to be closer to her and this easiest way was to crowd her into the wall and kneel.

He reached for her. He could feel the silent permission floating from her. She was surrounded by shimmering passion. He felt he could breathe it in and shards would catch in his lungs.

Soren was used to experiencing desire only as echo of another's. When it poured off him, her body drew it in like a sponge. Except, she was already filled to the brim with her own need. And to have them meet within her, to swell and crest with the oncoming wave she was out of her waters. It was comforting Hoban seemed equally undone. Everywhere he touched felt raw and crushing. It was as if she could choke on the feeling of him. His desire like liquid honey, moving beneath her skin and pouring down her throat. Coating her from the outside in, meeting in every cell an answering tremor from her. His thumbs moved in an experimental brush across her ribs and she shuddered.

"Never, you said?" His voice was a whisper. She could only nod. She couldn't make any clear noise come from her aching trembling throat.

Her one hand gripped his jacket and the other moved to wrap around one of his massive thumbs. Clinging for life as if he were a lightning rod and could pull sensation from her.

He grunted as she shook. He pushed up her shirt with the hand she did not hold onto, in that moment even the slide of cotton over her skin was like fire. He was gentle. His size so misleading as he curled around her knees and exposed only a scant couple inches of skin low on her belly. Just above where an ache was building.

Talos was blisteringly aware in that moment that Hoban did not have the autonomy to push this encounter farther. No matter the mountain of a man's desire for her, Talos could not deceive her fully. Hunter's instincts and jealousy had recklessly pushed him this far. He should stop. No matter the addicting golden waves of desire trickling from her, filling Hoban's sensitive nose and making Talos' mouth water. His world narrowed to the small hand wrapped around his thumb, clinging to him with sweet desperation and the small strip of emerald green skin he had exposed.

She had never felt it this way, against her own skin. He could tell she was drowning in their twin emotions.

Another good reason to stop. He glanced up at her. Her eyes were closed tight and her mouth was bitten into a firm line. One moment he promised himself. One new sensation that could crystallize within her then he would leave. He blew across the small strip of skin, reveling in the way it prickled and quivered beneath him.

"Don't," she sobbed as he felt the throb of her lust. The others beyond the doors might be able to feel it too.

They couldn't do this.

He eased his grip on her, tried to relax all his tense muscles, as her knuckles whitened around his thick thumb he wanted her to feel how pliant he could become.

"Don't?" He asked looking at her carefully. "Or slower?"

He could see clearly the clenching of her throat as she tried to swallow around something. She nodded.

Where before cold air had passed across her, feeling as sudden and as impossible to resist as a cold steel blade, she felt his hands slide down her to embrace her hips, thumbs pushing up her shirt and pressing into the thin skin over her hip bones. His mouth close to her, he exhaled a long slow breath across her belly. The air from his mouth as hot as the jungle beyond the ship. His nose brushed her as he turned his head slightly to cover all of her skin with the heat of him. She felt sensation pool and flutter so low her fingers ached to chase it, to trap it like a moth with hands that knew her own pleasure well. Even when it was mired and doubled by the man kneeling with his forehead pressed to the crown of her ribs. Instead, she clamped one hand to her mouth so she could cry into it as her body jerked against the overwhelming feeling of someone against her own skin.

"We should stop," he said into the curve of her stomach. Even that made her ache.

"Why?" She panted. She didn't want to stop when a new world was opening beneath her feet.

"We need to talk," he said brushing his nose into the bunched up shirt below her ribs. She could feel the pull of him smelling her deeply.

She ran a tentative hand over the prickly skin of his scalp, feeling him tense and his skin move with her. She hoped to push him closer, lower. Make him finish whatever it was he had ignited in her.

"A little late to be negotiating terms," she said trying to sound cavalier as her insides liquified. She felt the small huff of his laughter.

He ran the tip of his tongue just under the ridge of muscles crossing her stomach. Her fingers instinctively dug into his dense skin. He was so solid and real beneath her. Without the ordeal of learning him, replicating, she was free to observe him at her leisure, focus only on what attracted her.

Talos couldn't resist tasting her once. She spoke of negotiation, she teased him with her willingness meeting his resistance but she did not understand he was negotiating his own endless war. She did not know another man crouched inside Hoban, and felt all that he did but in a different way. It was almost a mirror image, he was never sure which place the thought of touch and the action sprang from. It was a war of flesh, where did Hoban stop and Talos begin? His heart must belong to Hoban as it engorged large enough to support his body, by that logic his bones and guts too, but what about the limbic system? The lymphatic fluids, the hormones, the humours of the body? Were those still Talos'? Was the desire produced by chemicals in the brain his own chemicals or did they belong to Hoban's biology. Was Talos deceiving this shaking wanting woman? Or was he merely a voyeur to something beyond himself? Had he seen her first but Hoban had claimed her?

Her hand traced his ear thoughtfully. Passion that had gripped them slowed and stilled. A deep pool around them. Misleading tranquility on the surface as Talos knelt between her knees and her hands soothed him. He felt safe to breathe for a moment. Drawing in the smell of her like dewy grass.

"You're conflicted," she said. Her voice was so different echoing in her own chest.

"I want you," he murmured against her skin. She stroked his jaw with the back of her fingers. Talos shuddered. Kindness was always his weakness.

"I noticed."

He laughed standing on protesting legs.

"I shouldn't." He wrapped his arms around her. Thumbs finding the skin of her lower back and stroking. She arched into him. She was so small now. Less broad than before and shorter. He wanted to treat her gently.

"Because I am a Skrull?" She volunteered for him. She wrapped her arms around his neck, stretching her body against him

He wanted to protest. To tell her the truth, that it was because he was. He was dangerous to her.

"No," he muttered. They had begun to rock slowly he realized. Their bodies swaying and nestling closer together. He slid a knee between her legs and lifted her so she perched on his thigh. She was closer to his mouth now. "You didn't hire me for this."

"Our deal was open ended," she leaned up and kissed him.

Good intentions were meaningless when confronted by her lips against him. Greed and recklessness would always win out with Talos. And he was greedy for her. He moved his thigh beneath her, his hands grinding her hips down onto him so her mouth opened and breaths like tiny huffs crossed his lips. Her perfect mouth that was too small to accommodate him. He could overwhelm her. Choke her on his need. So he fell on her neck instead. He drove himself into the wall as her body wrapped around him, bucking with him. Matching the disjointed rhythm he made between her thighs. Her hands dug into his neck and she threw her head back so he could have more of her neck, lick and suck more skin. The gold grew brighter around them. The glittering cloud sticking close to their bodies. What a beautiful tell this woman had, Talos thought. She could not hide her growing pleasure from him and he would not let her be shy.

He leaned back so he could watch the confused breathless look in her eyes as her knees clenched closed around him. Calm filled the air. Addicting stillness. A harbour after being nearly drowned at sea. Her hands reached for his face as the door wooshed open and Thalla called up.

"Soren, did you tell him? Is he mad?"

Soren went pale then buried her head into his shoulder. Talos lowered her slowly to the ground. The after glow of orgasm drifting heavy down with her

"No, I am not mad," Talos answered the young girl as Soren punched his shoulder.


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Truth

Soren wished the floor would open up beneath her. Hoban was lowering her to the ground and Thalla was calling up to them. Soren felt expanded as if she existed beyond her body in a strange echoing moment. She could not remember now that she was sated, shaking and clinging to him, if she had kept her emotions close, if she had been quiet. She could not say what her corporeal being had done while she had been lost chasing a thought, a sensation, a vision of Hoban's strength carrying her. Bringing her over an edge she had only ever skimmed alone. Bracing her for a fall that she half feared as much as her body was begging her to jump. Was this what it always felt like? When she was in her own skin, drenched in her own humours was this what she could have with someone else?

Hoban pressed a kiss to her temple before backing away from her slowly, his eyes locked on hers. He slipped to the other side of the bedsheet, already his iron gated emotions back in place.

She needed to change. To strip the jungle sweat and pheromone soaked clothes from her body and find some sense in garments that fit.

She heard the scuffle then thud of Hoban dropping out of the room. She wondered if Thalla and Giz had returned to their shapes. What it must be like for Hoban to encounter new faces. She reached for him even though she knew he would not let her in.

To her surprise she felt something answer her back. Not an emotion or a sensation, but an answering firmness as if he could feel her prodding and his own mind acknowledged it. She could not see his inner thoughts but she could know he was there. It comforted her in a way she couldn't explain. It was like a hand in hers as she felt about in the darkness. An assurance that even when she could not see him, he was there.

Talos' head was still somewhere in the room above him when his feet landed in the hallway. Thalla was waiting for him. She was roughly the same shape as she had been before but where she had been all pale skin and brunette curls she was now the colour of an unripe gorru fruit; vibrant green and smooth ridges. She looked even younger to him now. She smiled at him nervously and tugged at her long tapered ear.

"Hello," she said as If they had not parted less than an hour before.

Behind her Giz hovered his face hard angled and sour citron skinned. His blond scruff now gone but Talos noticed there were rings in his ears. Two in each, up by the tip. Talos tried to imagine the Council's reaction to that kind of decoration on one of their soldiers. He could not. He didn't know if the children they took in had enough rebellion in them to try. He nodded at them both. Soren was still deep in his senses. He could feel her pressing on the edge of him. He answered her as easily as threading their fingers together, as pressing palms. A pressure back that gave nothing away but knew the shape of her question.

"So," he said in a voice that felt unready to do anything except growl. "I suppose this changes things."

Giz set his chin at a defiant angle.

"Do you think you can profit off us?" He asked. Hoban squared him up.

The truth was Talos had plans that were much worse than merely extorting credits from them. He planned to bring the organization down around their ears and pick from the rotten moragu flesh whatever seeds could be salvaged. He planned to pluck their Captain from them and offer her a chance to right the scales. Scales that did Soren no favours. No matter the passion ignited between them he did not forget the Ulohmu had murdered students on Cairn, had taken Emerys, drowning her sheets in blue blue blood and survived by tarnishing the Skrull name across a galaxy already predisposed to hating them. He did not forget that it was Soren who stole Emerys' face to commit those acts against foolish children.

And still, he wanted her. He had let himself forget for awhile what it was she had done but the press of her mouth to his brought him back to another night. To Emerys, scared as the Ulohmu raided their camp. Emerys who had not wanted him to go. He had tried to leave her on Cairn. Had argued with himself that he was avenging her by hunting down the ones who had hurt her. That didn't mean he had done a good job of it. Even now he planned to push farther with the woman who had led to her death.

Talos was weak, greedy and reckless. He had been alone so long he had forgotten how to do anything but seamlessly blend in. He was a man without the strength of conviction. He was also the only one who had made it this far. He was good at war and the war would never let him go.

Before he could answer Giz, Soren dropped to the floor behind him. She straightened and shook out her coat where it had rucked up. Talos could not help but look at her. In motion she was even more beautiful than her photograph. She was graceful with her body moving as if she was used to being contained by the tight spaces of a ship so every twist of muscle was imbued with purpose. Her eyes flicked to him and she smiled. He looked away grunting.

"Took you long enough," he muttered.

"Maybe I was finishing something left half done?" She answered blinking innocently at him.

Thalla and Giz were looking at them confused. Talos felt his lip curl.

"You seemed satisfied with my work before I left," he growled at her. She smiled brighter.

"We will need to continue negotiations after we see the others," Soren cocked her head knowingly at him. A small satisfied smirk about her mouth.

"Does that mean Hoban is going to stay with us?" Thalla asked. Her dark eyes were wide and her smile wider. Giz gave him a look that told Talos all was not forgiven.

"That will be up to Indes," Soren answered. She reached out her arms to the girl and Thalla pushed past Hoban in the small space to wrap her arms tightly around Soren.

"I missed you, Soren. Its been so long since you looked like you," Thalla sighed into her shoulder. Soren hugged her back.

"It is good to see you, Thalla." She rocked the girl slightly before reaching her hand out to Giz. He did not move closer to her but he also did not move away from the hand that gripped his shoulder. Talos could almost see a smile threatening the corner of the boy's permanently scowling mouth. "You too, Giz."

There was a cough down the hallway and the trio turned.

"Can I hug Soren next?" The other Skrull girl was back, Tank was her name Talos thought.

"This is getting out of hand," Talos grumbled as Soren released Thalla and Tank went thumping into her chest. They nearly knocked into Hoban like game pieces on a field. The hallway was near claustrophobic with all of them piling in one another, Talos missed his body. Lumbering Hoban was not made to transverse a narrow ship.

Tank made a trilling noise, shimmying against Soren lasciviously. "I want to hear all about that blue eyed boy, Soren. All the details."

Soren stammered and Talos was convinced her eyes slid over Giz's head to glance at him. He coughed and started to move forward, parting the other Skrulls with his bulk. He wondered what it would be like to have his face greeted as an old friend as they greeted each other. A moment after the mission to acknowledge some missing piece of him had returned and he was whole again.

"If my future employment is still to be decided I would appreciate some urgency," he grunted. Tank laughed and mockingly saluted.

"The big one is rude and serious," they winked at Soren. "Just my type."

Soren laughed and Hoban felt heat on the back of his neck rise. For the first time since his capture he felt out numbered.

* * *

The centre of the ship was a large open room. It was the long oblong shape of seed pod, along the roof windows bubbled like the seeds, magnifying and warping the sky and trees beyond the shield.

Soren led him into the gallery, her smile wide. She reached her arms overhead mimicking the arc of the ceiling.

"_The Ibu-Ibu_ is a declassed science vessel. It was originally designed for studying different atmospheres," Soren walked backwards her voice alive with pride. "The dome viewers above are all tinted and curved to refract different frequencies of light. It's a low tech information gathering system."

Talos peeled his eyes away from her glowing face to the windows she mentioned. Each dome a slightly different colour so that from the ground they looked like an oil slick on water.

"So, this ship is extremely old?" He clarified. Her enthusiasm was catching but he tried to keep the interest from his voice. It was better to make a person feel like they were boring you than to be too keen.

"Ancient," she answered with too much enthusiasm for what she was saying.

"I am surprised it flies." He looked at the harsh rake of the floor. "Or should I saw 'flew'?"

The ship was well and truly stuck in the swamp.

"We will save her," Soren set her head at a bold defiant angle.

"So you will stay here until you have somehow pulled her from the muck?"

Soren opened her mouth to answer but another voice echoed in the strangely shaped chamber.

"Never mind our plans."

Soren whirled to look at the far end of the chamber. She walked quickly to meet the small semicircle of women who sat there. In the centre, slightly above the others, was a woman in a stained, reinforced jacket. Her skin was a pale peridot, etched white in places by old scars. Talos recognized Veda to her right but the other four women were a mystery to him.

He wondered if this was all of them.

"Indes," Soren dropped a small bow as she reached them. She glanced over her shoulder to see if Hoban had followed her. He was drifting behind. The others would join them soon but it had been agreed Soren should go first. "I am sorry it took so long."

"We knew you would come," Indes voice was always soft. A trick she learned early to make sure people had to stop talking to listen to her.

"So much has happened," Soren glanced over her shoulder at Hoban. She didn't want to admit everything in front of him. "Hoban is why were able to land safely and find you."

Indes turned her milk blue ringed eyes onto him and Talos felt Hoban's shoulders straighten instinctively.

"I suppose we owe you a debt," Indes said and Talos felt as if he had stepped on a scale.

"The Captain and I have been in a constant state of negotiation on the matter," Talos felt like a small thread connected Soren to him as they stood before the leader of the Ulohmu. He could feel golden and taught between them a quiver of Soren's joy. She kept her head bent. "I believe my payment will be satisfied before I leave you."

"You believe? And what are you taking as payment?"

Soren's head stayed bent but her eyeline moved a fraction towards him. A small twinge of annoyance plucked at him from her.

"The Captain has agreed not to kill me. I hope to include a ride to the nearest port city before our negotiations end. Once everyone is settled again."

Indes looked taken aback. She glanced at the women around her. They glanced among each other, their eyes finally landing on one of their numbered robed in black. Her expressive eyes looked only at Soren. The connection between them vanished. The woman in black reached behind her and squeezed Indes' hand.

"I did not think our little Soren enough to frighten someone as large as you," Indes' voice was leading but he could not decide to where.

"I am a big game hunter by trade. I fear the Krylorian dust rat more than a beast one thousand times its size. The Captain has been transparent in our dealings. I don't doubt their word on any matter," as the words left Talos' mouth he realized they were true. He trusted her not to lie to him. Deceiving through evasion, of course, as was their game. But he took her word when she gave it.

Indes nodded more. It was a habit of hers it seemed to keep time with her body like a ticking clock.

"And what was your plan, Soren?"

Soren finally looked up.

"We are camped in the ridge with all the necessary supplies. We will move our number there and leave a small contingent to work on the ship."

"And what of your guide?"

Soren hesitated. She had not got that far. Hoban had said though what it was he wanted. Even as the idea ached in her gut of him leaving them.

"He will be our guide on the route back. It will be worth our while to identify the nearest city. I will need parts for the ship. Hoban will need a way off planet."

"It seems you have planned it well," Indes said in a measured and affectionate tone. Just the right amount of surprise to stop her ego from thrumming. "The question remains who do you think we are, Mr. Hoban?"

"I don't care," Talos said shrugging as his eyes roamed the beautiful ancient chamber. Except in that moment there was no question that plagued him more.

"We could be dangerous," Indes said. Testing the waters again.

"The Captain and I already barter for my life."

"What about the lives of others?"

Talos drew in a thoughtful breath.

"As I will only be ensuring you don't die between one ship and another, I don't see how that will involve anyone beyond this hall."

"You are not a scrupulous man," Indes stated. Talos felt the scale shudder beneath his weight. Soren kept her head down. He felt pressure against his chest but it did not come from her. Someone else was making a run at his defenses.

"You can't eat scruples," he shrugged.

"We will inform the others then and see what they think of Mr. Hoban staying with us until Soren's debt is paid," Indes declared her eyes on Soren once again. Talos could have sworn Soren's lip caught between her teeth and she hung her head a little lower.

Behind her the door opened, Giz and Thalla stumbled in as if their ears had been pressed to the door. Tank walked in behind them a smirk on her wide smiling mouth.

The kids gathered in front of Indes. She did not smile at them but Thalla smiled at her. Giz's eyes were on Talos and did not shift for a moment as if he was being memorized.

"What do you think of Soren's plan?" Indes asked. Giz's eyes snapped to her.

"He should never have been allowed this far," Giz immediately offered. Talos swallowed his temper at the boy. "We know nothing about him."

"You think Soren incautious?" Indes words were weighted. Soren's head came up at last and she looked at Giz. Talos' chest tightened at the boy's words. Giz to his credit lowered his eyes for a moment before turning his attention back to Hoban.

"I don't think Soren is being impartial." Giz looked at his shoes as he continued, "I think she is easily swayed by the desires of others."

Talos felt his lip curl and a snarl grow in the pit of his stomach.

"What would you have us do with Mr. Hoban then?"

Giz looked at Indes with conviction. His body nearly vibrated with it. Talos wondered how Soren had not yet put him down. She only watched him with breathless betrayal in her eyes.

"I think we should shift into him and dispose of him."

"Giz," Soren finally choked out his name. She looked horrified. Indes straightened. There was a fire behind her now and the others in the circle tensed.

"I doubt he will consent to that solution," Indes' voice was iron. Giz didn't waver.

"I won't ask permission to protect us," he looked at Hoban once more. His disgust evdient across his face. Soren tensed. Talos could feel guilt pouring off her and he did not understand why. Would she let them toss him away?

Hoban bristled and stalked toward the boy who held his ground like a shaking pup.

"Have I ever given you reason to fear me, boy? I have been dragged into this from the beginning-"

Soren stepped between them, her hand digging into Hoban's chest. Talos could feel the others' eyes focussed on them as Thalla looked palely between Giz and Soren. Something unspoken hanging from her lips.

Giz began to shiver as he stared at Hoban with anger.

"Giz, don't. You would be breaking our rules. Hoban means us no har-" Soren looked between Giz and Hoban her neck aching with the strain of trying to see both at once. Her eyes finally locking on Hoban's begging him to be calm, to trust her. There was a frisson behind her of a completed shift.

A hush fell over the room and Hoban's face went stony. Soren turned slowly, the solid wall of Hoban's back against her.

In front of her where Giz had been was a man, taller than Soren but smaller than Hoban. Narrower too. His eyes dark but not amber. Soren felt like she couldn't breathe. Giz looked down at his hands in surprise, they moved to feel his chin and then up the side of his face.

Soren turned to Hoban. He was so close and so cold. She wanted to shout, to beat against his chest but all she could do was stand and stare.

"Soren, I can explain-"

"Take him," Indes broke the spell and Veda stood immediately training her weapon on him.

"No," Soren protested. He could explain. She knew he could. Other hands grabbed him and pulled him away.

He let them drag him, a chain looping over his arms. She went to follow but Giz held her back, his hands strong with a stranger's grip. She could not bear to look at him as Hoban let himself be pulled away his eyes locked on her and between them a thread of white unshakeable calm wrapped around her heart.


	20. Chapter 20

Soren whirled on Giz as soon as the man she had known as Hoban was out of her sight; carted away by Veda, Tank and guardians who had waited beyond the doors of the chamber. She shoved him, hard over and over. He took her abuse for a moment before he caught her seething body between hands that were not his. Soren could not bring herself to look into his face.

"Release that form, Giz, before I am sick" she grit through her teeth. Her body and mind already bracing for the rage of her fellows. The realization was dawning on her that she had been deceived over and over. The weight of her naivité was crushing her.

"I told you he couldn't be trusted," Giz shook her once, hard. A liberty he wouldn't dare to take in his natural form. An unfamiliar voice echoed in the stolen chambers of his body.

Giz let her go and turned to the mothers of the Ulohmu, some had risen from their seats while others were shocked into stillness.

"I beg your forgiveness, but I had to do what I thought was right. He would betray us. I see everything inside him. His name is-"

"No," Soren interjected pushing in front of Giz. She looked back at him with venom in her gaze. "I would hear him speak his name himself. Are we the Elders of Skrullos that we would hold a trial without the man?"

"Soren, you have brought danger here. Hold your tongue," Neva berated her. While none of the mothers were older than Indes, Neva looked twice her age. She had been starved in servitude before the Ulohmu rescued her and it wore heavy on her yellowed sagging skin.

Soren dropped on her knees in front of the circle of women.

"Make Giz release him. Punish me for my foolishness but do not condemn a man based on the words of another."

There was a heavy pause. Indes had not spoken yet and she was the final word on all matters.

"Soren," Indes spoke in a heart broken voice. "This danger seems unforgivable. You are too impulsive."

Soren swallowed tears that threatened to come. She shook with rage at her own stupid heart. She bent her body double and pressed her head to the floor meeting the place her hands pressed together.

"Indes, even if you never forgive me I beg you to uphold our own laws and treat him fairly."

Indes stepped away from the others. Soren raised her body enough that she could see Indes sandaled feet come into view.

"What concerns me most, child, is that he deceived you so thoroughly and you still supplicate yourself to ask for mercy for him."

Soren bit her tongue. She had made her request. She would not beg further. She could feel behind her Giz's vibrating rage. In front of her the mothers were shielded from her powers. Dania held a shield in front of them so they did not have to curtail their feelings for fear of manipulation by an empath as strong as Soren. She knew her power scared some of the mothers into distrusting her.

"He fooled me too," Thalla came to stand beside Soren. Her voice was white with fear. It rolled off of her in waves so strong they made Soren dizzy.

"You are a child, Thalla. We don't ask you-"

"I am three years younger," Thalla interrupted Neva. "You ask so much of Soren but you never trust her."

Soren wanted to stop Thalla's words. She had failed. Even as she felt gratitude to the shaking girl she wanted to tell her it was all futile. She wanted Thalla to distance herself from her disgrace.

"We trusted her to Captain the shuttle to collect your brother," Neva stated coldly.

"That isn't trust, it is just a task. Giz is the wrong one," Thalla's voice shook with the unfairness.

"Enough," Indes' voice came down like a metal bar. Neva was left with her mouth hanging open, half prepared to argue. "Everyone leave except Soren and Dania. Giz, even actions taken for a greater good have consequences. Release your stolen form."

"I-" Giz began to argue. His voice was making Soren's chest ache.

"You cannot protect us if you cannot abide by our laws. Search your conscience for the source of your acts and feelings."

Indes' decisions were always final and the room cleared.

Soren stood slowly to her feet. She knew Dania, with her dark robes and all seeing eyes, was going to take everything from her. She was the scales on which Indes decided her truth. She wielded a witch's empathy. She could see clearly the unguarded thoughts of others. Soren never imagined she would be under her gaze. She had never thought what she would do, how hard she would fight for the sanctity of her own mind.

"Breathe," Indes whispered to her. She took Soren by the shoulders and rubbed carefully up and down. Soren tried to make her rebelling lungs draw breath. "You won't be the last to be too trusting."

"I can speak to him."

"He has sway over you. It would be wrong of me to let you see him." Indes released her and walked back to sit next to Dania. The women held hands.

"You have to. He needs me," Soren protested. It had already been too long since his last dose. She couldn't be kept from him indefinitely.

"Did he tell you that?" Indes arched her brow at Soren. They thought her lovesick and foolish. She was only trying to finish what she had started.

"I know he does. I made him need me."

Dania had not yet begun to probe her mind but her eyes burned into Soren's chest even without her powers.

"This is my own failing. I sheltered you. I made you vulnerable. Soren, our bodies are treacherous things. They deceive us-"

Soren felt heat crawl over her chest all the way to the the tips if her ears. Her scalp tingled with shame.

"I am not swayed in the way you think," she muttered.

"Are you not?" Indes glanced at Dania who fixed her eyes on her, leaving Soren able to relax for a moment.

"He deceived me. I am not so stupid I can't see that but he is useful. He could be turned," she could still feel his desire for her as hot and fresh as it had been in their stolen moments. A memory burned into her. He was within the reaches of her power.

"You want me to give you permission to what? Seduce a spy for the Elders of Skrullos over to our side? That would make me no better than them and their games."

If possible, Soren felt more shame at Indes' words but she also felt she held onto something true. The man would know things they could use to protect themselves. And he had skills they could use to help others.

"He should be given the opportunity to choose," she said with conviction. "We know they spread lies about us. He is no different than Veda and she is our strongest guardian. What if we had convicted her without trial?"

Indes stood again and began to pace. Her eyes darting to Dania every once in a while.

"There is truth to your words," she said finally.

"I don't say them lightly."

Soren set her shoulders remembering the words from her dream, the woman Indes could be when they were alone. The woman who had saved her from Nadiir. Indes gave Soren an unreadable look. It felt like all their years together passed between them.

If worlds turned on such moments, this was the tilting of the axis. A moment neither could take back, that would disrupt the family they had built permanently. Soren realized perhaps this divergence had been coming for a very long time.

That children eventually stood on a different path than their parents.

"So this is who you want to trust?" Indes asked carefully. "And what will you do if he does not deserve it?"

"I will protect us and be hurt."

* * *

Thalla took off quickly from the chamber once she had been released. Her stomach burned with fear she had spoken too freely and her head raced with all that had happened. She was sick for Soren.

Soren, who seemed too good to be true. Soren, who made Thalla so envious she could choke but also who loved her so completely she could never hate her. Soren who was like an older sister. So far above Thalla she could only hope to one day be like her.

Soren who felt an ocean towards a mountain of a man. So deep and scary that Thalla could barely skim the surface when she had healed her. The blaster hole in her side had been stitched together with pieces Thalla had pulled from both of them. She had knit her fallen sister closed with feelings so large Thalla could barely hold them.

Hoban had dubbed her Stitcher but what Thalla was a thief. She crept through bodies eating their pain and convincing their tissues to become whole again. She had almost become lost inside Soren but Hoban had been a clear beacon. His fear hot and white she could grip her hands in it and pull herself out of Soren's endless mind. Press those hot coals against the bleeding and cauterize it.

"Are you going to look for him, Thalla?"

The stranger's voice echoed down the hall after her. She turned angry to see Giz still in his stolen goods. They were alone in the hall. They had no where to go on the ship. No place either could call their own. Their home for months had been with Soren on her ship and now Giz had betrayed her.

"Where I go is none of your business," she snarled at him. It had occured to her that Thallium would be poisoning his blood. That Soren would need to help him. Or if she could not then Thalla would have to try. For her. So Soren was not left alone on her ocean without the lighthouse to bring her to shore.

"It is my business if you want to help my prisoner," he stalked closer to her.

Thalla laughed in his face.

"Your prisoner? What did you do to capture him, Giz? All you did is condemn him without trial."

"You sound just like Soren. Did he meddle with you too? Do you want to fight her for him?" Giz sneered. Thalla backed away from him and found herself against a curve in the ship's hall.

"You can see in his head. If you know him so well admit to yourself what he feels," she felt her heart throb. She did not know this Giz.

"I thought I knew how you felt. You want to pretend to be grown up? I could do whatever you want while wearing this face."

"I spoke out for what I think is right, just as you did." Thalla felt heat rise in her cheeks. She hated that Giz could embarrass her with his words and this looming body.

"Admit it, Thalla. You want to be like Soren. You want what Soren has. I know the kinds of thoughts he has about her. I could give you exactly what he would do."

Giz had been creeping closer. Thalla was torn between rage and fear. And hot sick embarrassment that Giz was not wrong. Soren made her jealous, despite herself. Even the man who was so enamoured with her was not ugly hulking Hoban but someone strong and mysterious. Handsome. It was like something out of a grand sweeping romance. They were both so beautiful and fearsome. Thalla wanted it so bad she ached but not this way. Not some stolen imitation. Not without love. That was what she had realized. Giz did not love her.

"Lost your tongue, Thalla? Want me to find it?" He braced his arms on either side of her head and the curve of the wall bit into her so hard it could have been a sharp edge.

"Giz, don't." She hated the pleading in her voice but she wanted to give him the chance to leave on his own. To turn into himself.

"Don't?" He repeated her words to her as if he doubted her. He leaned in close and exhaled a slow hot breath against her neck below her ear. Thalla's skin prickled. It could have been so different between them if he was not so lost in himself that he forgot about her.

She kneed him in a sensitive place. He made a whimpering sound and fell to the side. She escaped him and looked back to see him shrivel back to himself. She ran away, not because she was scared but because she refused to feel sorry for him.

* * *

Talos had started to sense a pattern since Soren had come into his life. One that seemed to result in him chained in darkness skirting death every few days. He wished he could think she wasn't worth it. He suspected she was.

Veda and Tank had done him the kindness of not making him kneel. He leaned against a wall with his legs straight out. They had wanted him to transform back. They had demanded it but he refused. He knew they could torture it out of him if they wanted. He was testing their morality to see if they would burn a Skrull out of a Trill's skin.

In the end Veda had walked away. She had tapped the dull disc in his neck with the clicking of her nails.

"Soren's done enough to tame you. Despite what you might think she has good instincts."

He smiled a sharp smile, grateful for Hoban's imposing teeth. He didn't answer but he could have spit a thousand plans at her that involved Soren. She snarled back at him and stood up.

"I wouldn't try to escape if I were you but if you try I will enjoy hunting you," she left him in the dark and he knew she meant it.

Damn Skrull women and the iron in them.

He could release Hoban and slip away but something in him felt it was the coward's way out. He and Soren had begun a deal. They were bartering for one another and he held out hope he could buy her.

He tried to feel for her with his rusted empathy. It had always been a weak organ in him and now it was limp and useless. Either she blocked him easily or someone hid her from him. They knew already he could sway her. Given time. Given access to her. He could pour enough honey in her ear that she crumbled and followed him back to their people.

"General, I must admit I have concerns," a voice broke the silence addressing him as his rank. He realized it was coming from his pocket.

"And why is that?" Talos hissed trying to shimmy beneath the chains so he could reach the commlink that hummed against his chest.

"Your blood pressure has been flucctuating wildly for an extended period. And it appears your commlink is off."

"Then how am I talking to you?" He asked trying to make Hoban's body fit less snugly beneath the chains. He was sweating and his vision was tinged blue in the darkness.

"Emergency protocol. Consider it a courtesy check in before we declare you dead or turn on your tracker."

"I forgot how considerate the Council can be," he worked the words through clenched teeth. If these were his last moments he resented dying speaking to his handlers. He would have preferred to slip into a hallucination involving Soren and a sturdy wall.

"Do you require extraction?" The voice of the Council asked with an even tone. They obviously were electing to ignore his rudeness.

"No."

"Why is your commlink off?"

"I am on holiday in a tropical paradise."

"Check in properly in the next standard cycle or we will consider you a defector."

"I thank the Council for their concerns," Talos' head fell forward as the stabbing pain spread from his chest to his gut.

He remembered what Soren had said about death by liquefaction. It appeared she was always right.

"The light of Skrullos still burns," the voice said in a monotone. Talos grunted in return.

The blue was fading to black.

* * *

Someone was touching his face.

"Hey Big Guy come on, wake up. I am sorry they wouldn't let me come."

Talos could feel a weight on his thighs and wonderfully cool hands tilting his head up. He must have been asleep. Two fingers dug through the thick tissue of his neck to feel for his pulse. As he fought to open his eyes all the way he assumed he must still have one.

"Why didnt you unshift it would have fallen out," Soren's voice was close to his ear and exasperated. She felt him in the dark thoroughly tracing his neck to find a vein. He moaned. On the edge of death everything felt clearer. He thought he could describe every ridge of her fingerprint in detail. She pressed the cannister against him and the needle punctured sweating clammy flesh.

He tensed as cold seemed to flood him forever. She held it open and let the antidote flow into him like venom through a serpent's tooth. Numbness spread from the spot and he thought he might be sick.

Talos smiled through pain clenched teeth. "We had an agreement, you get to kill me or save me. I am fond of your choice."

Even if in that moment the benediction ached worse than the death.

Soren took Hoban's massive face in her hands. Talos could hardly stand the feeling of it. He kept his eyes closed and let Hoban dream a little longer.

"Tell me your real name."

He swallowed. As she demanded it he realized how long it had been since he had said it out loud. And to someone who desperately wanted to know it. The need for his name crawled over her skin like glittering black beetles.

"Talos."

He wanted more than anything for her to say his name back to him.

"I would be completely justified in hating you," she said. She traced his features in the dark as if she feared forgetting them.

"Then you should kill me," he groaned. "I am fragile right now. One good orgasm would probably do it."

"Is that really what you are thinking about right now?"

"With you sitting on me? Yes."

He grinned at her as she lifted herself off his thighs and stopped touching his face.

"You are being ridiculous," she sighed but he could feel the warmth of laughter underneath her voice. He may not be handsome but he could at least make them laugh. He breathed slowly as the pain faded. He rolled his head back and looked at her from beneath hooded eyes. Even in the semi darkness any small glimmer of light ached.

"Easy for you to say, you got yours."

"A bold assumption."

He laughed. Barely air passing his lips but he felt her bristle a little at the wind.

"If that's how you glow with the job half done then I -"

"Stop it. I came for a reason."

"To prolong my miserable life chained to this wall?"

"Go to Indes in your true face. And tell her you would stand with us."

A good spy would. A good spy would check in with the Council then embed himself with the enemy. Talos wasn't a good spy any more. He was half defector half soldier. He was someone trapped in a war on every front; for his people, against his people and with the boundaries of his own body. He wouldn't let Hoban lie to her. Hoban who desired her more than any prize he had ever had in his sights

"If I do that I won't have anything to wear to the ocassion."

Soren laughed leaning into him once again and pressing her forehead to his. Everything about her so small compared to Hoban. The pain was either fading or Talos had died and gone to heaven.

"Is that all? I can fix that."

Her hands still holding him she kissed the corner of Hoban's wide downturned mouth. Talos grunted. He couldn't. They couldn't.

She moved across his cheek featherlight brushes of her lips and nose, for once Talos was grateful for the expanse of it. She whispered her next words into his ear as low and intimate as words of love.

"Go to her and tell her you want to defect."

"I can't"

"You can the chains won't hold you once you unshift-"

"Soren listen to me. The Council knows I am not where I am meant to be. You need to leave here."

"You mean the Elders of Skrullos didn't send you?" Her voice shone with triumphant light. He couldn't let her misunderstand.

"My mission on Cairn failed-"

"What was your mission on Cairn?"

Talos hesitated. He knew he couldn't tell her they had crossed paths before. Not yet. Not when he needed her to focus and escape. "It's not important."

"It is."

"It's not. What matters is the Council will activate my tracker and find me. You need to take Thalla and go."

Soren stumbled backwards from his lap.

"They can find you?"

"They can and they will. They will treat me as a defector and imprison me for treason. Unless I can give them something valuable in return."

"And you would give them us?" She asked in a small horrified voice. He was disappointing her.

"Not you. Not Thalla. I would not even give them Giz if it means you will leave."

"I am not leaving until you change back."

"I need this form awhile longer. Leave the Ulohmu. Let Indes face the Council alone."

She was rigid with conviction and anger. He deserved it but he would not die on a prison planet after a lifetime of service. Not when a boon was so close.

He just need Soren to leave. He could find her again he was sure of it. They could figure out their sides then.

"No. And I won't let you keep it. Change back."

Did she hate him so much she would leave him in the Trillium Jungle without Hoban's instincts?

"Soren, go. Leave the needle"

Soren looked at the cannister in her hand snapped it over her thigh. Glass crunched and precious antidote spilled down the leather of her pants.

"Change first." Her voice shook with conviction. Now she really had killed him.

"Only if you promise to go. Leave the others and go."

"The Ulohmu is my family. I don't know what crime you think they have committed but I am as guilty of it as they are. We will escape the Elders together."

"There are too many of them. This ship is trapped and the other is too small. You will overload the life systems."

"We have survived worse. We will abandon unnecessary stores."

"That is madness."

"It is what you have pushed me to, Talos."

Finally, to hear his name from her lips. What divine punishment that it was in condemnation.

"I won't let your own stupid nobility feed you to the Council.

"Then escape with us."

"I can't. I serve Skrullos."

Soren laughed at him an empty cold laugh.

"You serve a circle of men who claim to represent it. Skrullos was taken from us. It has a new name and yet we live beneath the thumb of its idea. The Elders would have us locked in endless war for a dream."

"At least it is a dream. What does Ulohmu have? We are both locked in a hopeless battle. We should at least stand on the same side."

"Do you think they will give us a trial? Do you think they will welcome us back? They will rain fire and death down on us. Like they did in Ghodar and on Terius. We have escaped them before and we will manage it again."

"They have found you before?"

Talos felt cold. If that was true where were the records? Why were they hidden from someone of his rank? His own doubts about the Council came to the surface again. He did not believe that this ramshackle group had infiltrated them but he could not be sure of anything anymore. He only knew nothing appeared to be as it ought. And that rankled him.

"You have no idea who you serve."

"We are both tools. We waste precious time bickering about ideologies."

"Then shift and stand before Indes. Allow her to give you proper trial and you can weigh her against the lies you believe."

Talos grit his teeth in frustration. Veda was right that Soren had cornered him then checkmated him. He had to shift if he wanted to be free of his poison and live long enough to potentially sway her to his side. He needed to stave off the Council even if it meant spying for them once again. He had to free her from her unknown servitude.

With a defeated growl Talos released Hoban into the jungles of his home planet.


	21. Chapter 21

Soren didn't look at him as he changed. She turned her back coldly to him as returned to his body once again.

It made him feel dirty. Like he repulsed her even though they were the same kind.

He had watched her earlier. It had been as intimate as feeling her come apart hot and golden against the hard grind of his thigh. More so, because it was something no woman had given him before. She had been magnificent even though she had been shy, turning her head before it was thrown back by the tension in her body. Her lips curled as she took deep panting breaths around the roughness of the sensation. Talos knew it could be pleasurable too. Nothing that could be easily described. Like the transcendent feeling of scratching an itch where the satisfaction of the sensation eclispses the scrape of the skin. Everywhere at once the cells tensed and relaxed. A rippling climax through the body.

This time it was not easy turning back. It had been so long since he had worn his own skin. His body had to burn away Hoban to find his true form hidden deep within. He was vulnerable when he shifted, in a way he rarely was. The eyes were blind, everything blown fuzzy black with bursts of colour behind his eyelids. And the body clenched and shook. The mind reeled. The skin heated by near religious ecstacy.

The final collapse was accompanied by a rush of air caught in his sinuses like snarl. A deep animal sound that searched for company, for acceptance, for satisfaction. He may have been without sight but he wished he could see her. He wanted to know if despite herself something in her wanted that ancient power. If it called to her the way it did to him.

A feverish part of his soul would have revelled in grabbing her shoulders and holding her against him as he changed. Feeling the pressure of her skin against the tortured flesh. Have the first touch of his body returned be her curled underneath him. A firm backside cushioning the throbbing weight of him as blood flooded everywhere. Feeding neglected cells and leaving him flushed and tingling.

Instead it was chains and cold metal walls. He was small inside Hoban's clothes. It made him feel as ridiculous and powerless as Soren's back to him.

There was a clink of metal coming free from his skin and he lifted a hand to rub where it had been. He groaned. The jacket hung loose on him and leather creaked as it rubbed.

"Are you okay?" Soren asked in a tight voice.

"I suppose. I don't have much to compare it to."

Talos shrugged off the jacket that swamped him and the boots that felt like canoes. The shirt beneath hung like a fabric tent. As he stood the hide trousers slipped down his legs and puddled around his ankles. He braced against the wall and kicked them off.

"Can I turn around now?"

"That depends on the level of your curiousity about the Skrull form."

Talos pulled the shirt over his head and balled it up. He considered throwing it away and strutting past her as the old gods of Skrullos intended. He took pity on her and crossed his wrists in front of him holding the shirt to hide himself. The wall was cold against his back as he leaned waiting for her.

"What do you mea-" Soren turned and her eyes went wide for a moment before she covered her face and turned around again.

"I did warn you," he grinned.

"Oh for the sake of Skrullos," she spit out the familiar curse. He chuckled and leaned away from the wall.

"I thought we had established there was no such thing as Skrullos? Is your opinion easily swayed by a gander at one of her elite generals?"

"You are making this hard," she moaned into the echo of her hands.

"Captain, You flatter me."

The set of her shoulders was exasperated. Talos could tell she wanted to laugh. He wished she would give in. That they could have a small moment of peace before the tug-o-war for each other's allegiance began again.

"In the Ulohmu-"

"Is the rhetoric to begin already?" He groaned.

She turned to him, eyes still mostly covered. She blushed prettily he thought.

"You question the wisdom of my loyalty without knowing anything of my people. So yes it begins now."

She took a bold step towards him, her head still bowed in the shelter of her hand.

"I am trying to bring you back to your people-" he argued back.

She scoffed and took another step toward him with her chin crooked upwards and her eyes steadfastly on the ceiling. Her hand hovering in front of her face. He found his words petered out as she drew closer to him.

"In the Ulohmu," she began again. Her voice would brook no more interruptions and Talos held his tongue if it meant she would stay hovering so close to him. "Shifting is rarer. We only do it when we have the permission of the recipient. When one of us returns to their true form we treat it as returning from a journey."

Talos remembered the embraces in the hall. The envy he had felt at their welcome. He swallowed the intense feeling of denial that welled in his throat. As he tried to slow his breath and even out his beating heart, Soren drew a deep lungful of air and blew it out nervously. She lowered her hand and looked at him.

Talos froze under her gaze. She looked no lower than his mouth. Her eyes moving slowly over his features.

"It's been a long journey, Talos" she said barely above a whisper. He couldn't remember how his throat worked or his eyes. He was a man frozen beneath her. "I am glad to see you."

Her eyes dipped for the smallest thousandth of a second down his body. A flicker he doubted even as he watched it. He adjusted his grip on the shirt.

Soren turned and walked away from him. He followed her, his barefeet padding on the floor and a pressure that felt like water behind his eyes.

* * *

Soren set her shoulders and refused to look embarrassed as she left the makeshift cell. She was not the naked one. She could feel a radiating cloud of heat behind her in the shape of Talos.

Veda and Tank had let her through when she had told then Indes wanted to see him. Now they stood aside as she exited. Talos followed after her. He hissed at the brightness. Soren did not pause but continued walking. The sooner they were in quarters the better.

Tank whistled behind them and Talos walked a little faster. Soren slowed her steps. On second thought, let him parade about.

There was scurrying ahead of her as she walked and doors slid closed. Soren was not sure if it was the prisoner or his state of dress that was causing the ripple. The hallway tilted up as they climbed and she heard the smallest slide of his feet as he tried to fight against gravity.

The homestretch seemed clear and within reach when a door wooshef and someone stepped out into the hallway.

"Giz," Soren said immediately exasperated.

"Soren," he said his eyes locking onto hers. His face was earnest.

"Giz," Talos repeated. Mock levity in his voice. Giz's head whipped to look over Soren's shoulder. His eyes widened as he took in Talos' naked body hidden only by a bunch of cloth. "Did you have trouble holding onto me, boy?"

Talos swaggered closer as the kid took a step back. He drew level just behind Soren's shoulder. Her hand could almost brush his.

"It's a common problem at your age. You get too excited."

Soren shot him a warning look as Giz's mouth worked like a fish.

"Why did you let him out?" Giz gave Soren an accusing look. She raised her brow at him. Talos felt a swell of pride at the icy calm that radiated beyond her.

"He will stand before Indes as himself. Dania will read the truth from him better than your theft."

"He can't go like that," Giz protested weakly. Talos looked down at his folded hands, Soren too allowed herself to glance downward. If only to make Giz more uncomfortable.

"He is right, you can't" she said emphatically. The curl of her lip showing the small points of her teeth.

"Why? Weren't you just accusing me of hiding things?" He looked in fake shock at Giz. Soren turned her eyes back to the boy and sighed in mock exasperation.

"He's right, you were."

She could feel the frustration rolling off of him. Silver clouds of indignation. She could understand why Giz had done what he had but she was not ready to forgive him. Nor was she willing to not be petty about it.

Giz moved his mouth and stuttered to retort. Talos looked at Soren.

"I assume we are returning to our previous accommodation?" He asked. She nodded at him and he brushed past her to the top of the hallway. As he passed Giz he leaned in too close so the boy recoiled, "pardon me for not shaking your hand but mine are full."

Soren watched Talos swagger down the hall as Giz shuffled to get away from him. She let herself notice the deep indentations of powerful calves, and the small divots of flesh above his hips. The sharp triangles of his back. She shook her head and followed him. Allowing him a decent head way to slip into the room first.

He was behind the makeshift curtain when she pulled herself into the room. The yellowed white of Hoban's shirt abandoned ominously on the floor.

"Don't be mad at Giz," she said as she started to sort through the clothes on the floor. She heard the clink of buckles moving.

"The bastard nearly got me killed."

She could see Talos moving in profile behind the sheet.

"Then you owe me for saving you and that's what I am asking for," she lifted a shirt from the floor and held it across her body. It was large enough she thought.

He stepped from behind the curtain, closing the front fall of a pair of pants. Soren froze, the shirt gripped in her hands.

"Those are mine," she said her eyes moving between his face and his leather clad legs.

"They wouldn't fit you right now," he said in a low growl. He sauntered closer to her and let a small tendril of his desire seep out between the firm grip of his shield. Soren's knuckles went white as they crushed the fabric in her hands. He smiled at her. "Or would you like me to pay you for their use?"

He stepped closer to her, aware of the way her eyes could not settle. They flitted from his eyes to his mouth and down his torso. She took a step back from him.

He moved quick to catch her hands, he gripped her as her boots found the edge of the doorway into the tilted room. He grinned at her as her body did a surprised jolt. He took a leading step back pulling her onto steady ground again. His hands slipped from hers and caught the shirt she held like a barrier between them.

"Is this for me?" He grinned at her as he tugged it a little bit, her tight grip making her jerk a little closer to him. The heat between them could splinter his atoms. He let his eyes settle on her lips. They were pressed in a firm line except she had kissed him willingly once. He did not know how long ago now but recently enough he could recall the taste of her mouth. The warm brittle flavour of minerals like spring water, his body desperate for her to replenish him. For the complex systems of her body to nourish him and make him whole. His biology telling him they were a match.

She nodded silently and released the shirt. She escaped past him.

"If you were going to skitter around you could have stayed in the hallway. I can dress myself."

Soren ignored him sifting through the piles if clothes that had littered the floor. She found one boot and threw it to him. It thudded on the floor.

"I can find my own things too. Despite your thorough organization system."

His eyes swept the floor and all the things that had rained down when the ship had crashed. He slid the shirt over his head and could feel Soren relax. Didn't she know his blood heated when she gave herself away like that? No artifice. No subtlety. After a lifetime of spying it was addictive.

The other boot came flying at him. Soren straightened and rubbed a weary hand over her face. Talos remembered it was only that dawn she had been bleeding into the dirt. She needed to rest.

"Soren, did you come here to dress me? Or to plead for the whelp's life? Or to continue our negotiation?" His voice dropped lower. She gave him a withering tired look. He wanted her to rest almost as much as he wanted her to lose her temper at him.

"It won't be Indes alone you face. She makes all her decisions with Dania." Soren looked about her at the sea of clothes. She had the nervous energy of someone who wanted to right something, to put everything back in its place.

"Why worry about that?"

"You can't hide anything from Dania when she wants it. She can push through even the most resilient block."

"Are you worried for me?" He sifted through the clothes for socks that would make the slightly large boots snugger.

"You will waste energy trying. And it might make the process worse." Soren leaned against the wall her hand fidgetting with a scrap of wool. She really did look tired. And vulnerable.

Talos found one sock. He glanced around for its mate. He slid it on his foot.

"You underestimate my control. You could not get past it."

"Dania is stronger than me," Soren leaned her head back and watch him shuffle through the piles. She ran her fingers over the material again and again.

"You admit that easily," he said glancing up at. Her recognized the scrap in her hand.

He walked closer to her and she let him. Closing her eyes as her head rested against the hard metal wall.

"I see no reason not to admit it," she said raising her brow even as her eyes stayed closed. "Doubting her would be foolish."

"But I do," Talos whispered slipping the sock from between her fingers. She let it go easily and he moved his free hand to her jaw.

He wondered what the rules of engagement were for a game of conversion. Was there any tactic or tool not on the table? She relaxed as her mouth opened the smallest sliver. The slick green of her tongue glistening behind her teeth.

"I doubt anyone is as strong as you," he growled. She breathed in, her chest lifting closer to his wrist as his thumb worked the small tense muscle in her jaw, locked from holding her tongue so long.

Her mouth closed as her teeth caught her lips. He could feel a heartbeat in his throat, chest, groin, all the way to the soles of his feet. He did not know if it was his or hers.

"You ignore my warnings and all you have to offer is empty flattery," she released her lip leaving it glistening and dented with the pressure of her teeth. Talos grunted. He would gladly suck it into his mouth until it was full again and free of her punishment.

"No part of it was empty but I will listen to you. What will she do to me that you haven't already?"

"She will stand in your mind as if she were one with you and you will not be able to hide the truth."

"Has she done this to you?" He needed to know. His voice was soft but his held a threat. Was that how the Ulohmu had captured her? Warping her mind with their tainted gifts? Soren shook her head and opened her eyes to look at him with weighted conviction.

"It will only happen if Indes suspects you are lying. Just be honest,"

She was so concerned. Talos wanted her concern but his body rejected it. Soren was kind but she was not this kind. There was another motive at work. Talos caught the disappearing tail of suspicion as it threatened to skitter away. He tugged the fat truth of it out like an orloni seeking its burrow. His lip curled.

"What is it you fear they will see?" Talos' voice was dark and crackled over her like an oncoming storm. Soren froze.

"It's not my secrets you are worried about," he spat the accusation at her. Disappointment wriggled in his gut. "It's yours."

Soren froze, her mouth trembling uselessly, she protested "Talos I-"

He laughed coldly to himself. And this was the mighty Ulohmu. His voice rumbled in his chest as he leaned even further into her. "Soren, if you are going to play seductress with your ideology do yourself the favour of learning deception."

He stepped away from her with a small fire licking up his esophagus. Threatening his lungs and his guts. He gathered his boots and a coat from the floor. The air between them tense as Soren did not know how to deny him. He shook on the leather coat, an extra layer to guard him from the mistakes of his parents and the groaning protests of his body. He would not sacrifice himself as they had to love or principle. He glanced at her one last time before he dropped down to the hallway alone.

He would keep her secrets and would continue to herd her back towards their people but no longer would he let his treacherous desires trick kindness out of him. Or softness. He would woo her with the coldness of marble and she could choose lay herself beneath his crushing weight or be free of his shadow for forever.


	22. Chapter 22

Talos knew he would hear Soren follow him as he walked down the hall in slipping boots. She caught up to him quickly and fell into step. He wanted to turn and roar at her. He wanted to trap her against the wall and demand the answers to questions he did not know how to ask.

Instead he held his tongue. He felt the air grow heavy, like the change in atmosphere before the rain. She was clouding him with calm, with understanding and sweetness. Talos wanted to wave his arms in the air in front of him and disperse her influence. She was powerless over him in that moment, his resolve to harden his heart too fresh. He stopped short in the hall and he felt her hands come up to stop her colliding with him. They were alone. The others hiding as a prisoner stalked free.

"Don't," he said it softly. Deep and warm in his chest. How could a warning couched in velvet sound so deadly? As if he would smother her with it.

"Don't what?" She answered. Her hands flattened on his back and she pressed her forehead between his shoulder blades. She could feel the expansion of his breath like the roll of ocean waves. She was surprised he did not shake her off like an annoying bristled insect. A many-legged catepillar who clung and wrapped around wherever she could find purchase.

"The Ulohmu has taught you a poor lesson, Little Soren," the sound of her childhood nickname in his mouth made forgotten parts of her liquid. "Your people would tell you it is bad manners to force your influence on them."

"I just want you and Indes to be able to talk," she knew it wasn't an invitation but her hands moved down the firm slope of his back to cling to the cold leather of his jacket. She turned her cheek so she could hear his heart beat.

"Don't you trust me to plead my own case?" His voice was gravel through the thick muscles of his back. If anyone saw them she wouldn't be able to explain why she clung to him.

"I just worry-"

"Is that all you are?" He snarled coldly. "Worry and concern? The only one who can do it all? This pride is how they use you."

His words stung because they were the truth she always feared. That she was not as she should be. She pushed away from the place where she had warmed his jacket. He grunted as he jolted from her shove.

Talos felt the absence of her immediately. He had felt so strong when she had clung to him. When he pushed her away with his words he knew how weak he was. He willed the places she heated to be cold again.

"And what of you, Talos? Is loneliness all you are? You despise the Elders who control you but you would bring me to their side. Would it kill you to serve what you love?"

He didn't look at her but continued walking. Love of nation had killed his father, love of another had killed his mother and now their son stood between two voracious hounds with no one to protect him.

The door opened again to the chamber. Talos did not look up to admire the rainbow in its ceiling. His eyes held firmly the two women who waited for him. They stood apart but between them an understanding caught the light. It was a glass bridge not visible from all angles but Soren could see it.

She came to stand beside him. Her head was bowed.

"You have a name, I suppose," Indes looked him up and down as he stopped in front of her.

"General Talos of Skrullos," he answered.

"General, forgive our initial distrust. There is no love lost between our sides."

Talos inclined his head and looked at the woman carefully.

"There is not. I owe you my apologies, I had not meant to deceive you."

"I find that hard to believe when you came to us wearing another's face and carrying their name."

Soren's fingers fidgeted behind her back. Talos resented the urge he felt to take her hand in his. He kept his eyeline straight, daring the witch behind Indes to see the softness he was in the process of crystallizing.

"Truth is not as clear to me as it once was."

Indes glanced at Dania who inclined her head.

Talos did not exaggerate. He could not pinpoint for certain the last time he had worn his true likeness. Or when time stretched out in front of him with no mission. When was the last time he could have expected to remain as himself for the foreseeable future?

His mind had not quite accepted his body's liberation.

"Did you mean to find us?"

"Yes."

It seemed his every answered would be checked against Dania's instincts.

"What was your intention once you found us?"

"I do not know."

Indes smiled at him. A tired smile that spoke of a lifetime of stranger truths.

"It is not wise to pour out the water from a pitcher without a vessel to catch it."

Talos hung his head for a moment, his ear tilted as if to better catch her words. He laughed.

"Am I supposed to know what that means?" He righted his head to arch his brow at her. He could feel Soren tense behind him. Indes looked at him with a blank expression before smiling wide enough to show a broken tooth.

"It means you should know what you want before you take action to achieve it. You waste the water you desire without something of your own to hold it."

"You assume I want the water, perhaps it is the pitcher I desire. Without what fills it."

Soren was convinced his eyes flicked to her. She felt them as hot as a finger tip along her ear.

"So you would waste something precious to achieve your goal?"

"If it was the most efficient way," Talos answered with a shrug.

"Have you defected, Talos?" Indes asked the question that was consuming all of Soren. She wanted desperately for the answer to be 'yes'.

"It is not that simple," Talos answered.

"You strike me as a man who knows what he wants, so I assume it is not a question of conviction."

"It is not only a question of conviction." He reached up and opened his shirt, Indes quirked her head as he exposed green skin down to the hard line of his pectoral.

Soren forced herself to keep her eyes on her shoes. She had seen earlier the scar above his heart. A tapered oval, it was small and clean. Medical. Unlike other jagged marks that her fingers had itched to touch when he was holding her close. She wanted to catalogue each one, as if somehow the answers would form a map that explained the man.

"They have a tracker inside you," Indes narrowed her eyes as she considered the mark he bore.

"I have been told it is wired into my heart but I have never tested the theory." He closed his shirt again. "Standard issue when you are in information gathering. Much more important to reclaim my body than a foot soldier's."

"You don't make a good argument for being allowed to stay among us."

Talos was aware Soren was worrying her lip.

"A good enough one for keeping me alive."

"What can we do about you, Talos, that will lead to the most happiness for all involved?"

Talos was taken aback by Indes question. He was immediately suspicious of it. He felt the narrowed eyes of the woman in black on him. She had not tried his defense yet. Or if she had he had been completely unaware of it. That was what made him bristle, he could not trust those around him. The Ulohmu played by different rules.

"I am not accustom to considering happiness. All I know is have to report to the Council soon or they will consider me a defector. I have already been out of contact too long. And they will know where my communication originates from."

Indes looked to Soren for the first time since they entered the chamber.

"Is there something you can do about this signal? Can you buy us time?"

"I can try," Soren answered without lifting her head. Talos wanted to take her by the shoulders and shake her. Tell her to tell them all to piss off.

"I feel our question of happiness will not be easily resolved," Indes sat next to Dania. She placed a thin white scarred hand on her shoulder. "Perhaps, not until you know what will make you happy."

"And I suppose I am to stay here until that is decided?" Talos grinned at her but it was half a snarl. She spoke of happiness but it was clear he remained their prisoner.

"There are pieces that must be moved across the board in order for our game to continue. Our people cannot stay here, the ship sinks more everyday. You must speak with your Elders. These things will happen so they should have our focus. Mr. Hoban had offered us escort back to Soren's ship in exchange for his life. Let us keep our agreement with him. Stay with us long enough to see us settled, then you can decide what side you are on."

Talos sucked his teeth. He could see the wisdom of her offer but it felt hollow as if there were pieces unspoken between them.

"And what is to stop me from betraying you? If you have no reason to trust me?" Were the Ulohmu really this foolish? Is what he wanted to ask.

"Soren" Indes answered with a knowing smile.

"I beg your pardon?"

Soren lifted her head and glanced between Indes and himself.

"Despite the recent turn of events I can think of no better embodiment of our beliefs. Soren will help you send your message. She will also be your guard until our agreement is at an end."

Talos' stomach dropped. He did not know what his plan had been once he left this room but he knew keeping distance between Soren and himself was the only way to survive it. It seemed Indes had other plans.

"You are free to go. Tomorrow we will set out for the ship," she stood on tired legs and made to leave the room. She paused, "Soren come to my room after dinner. We still have much to discuss."

"Yes, Indes" Soren said in her soft voice.

"And Talos. You and I will talk again soon."

Dania took Indes' arm and helped her from the chamber. Soren stood rooted to the spot, her head still bowed. How could a woman be so defiant to him but she was humbled beneath an old woman who only allowed her a fraction of her worth? He wanted to shake her.

"See? You could have trusted me from the beginning," he leaned in to whisper to her before tucking his hands in his pockets to saunter from the room.

"I do trust you," she said turning with military precision and walking to the opposite end of the hall. Talos' step faltered.

"What?"

She barely glanced over her shoulder as she continued to the hall.

"We don't have much time bring your comm to the galley."

* * *

Talos was unprepared for the scene that met him inside the low ceilinged galley. The counter that wrapped around the back of the room was occupied by three women. He recognized Soren's slim hips and Thalla's short body. The third woman was one he had never met before. She was short and plump. She had a loud laugh that set off a chain of laughter between the other two.

The sullen Giz was seated at the table bolted to the floor. On his lap was a smiling child. Giz held onto the standing kid's waist as they tottered on his thighs making repeated grabs for the rings in his ears. He did not smile at them but kept patiently moving his head out of their reach. Often only putting the other ear in their path. When he saw Talos his lip curled but he was silent.

"Soren, he's here," Giz called. Soren stopped laughing.

She turned to look at him, she had a smudge of flour across her cheek. She wiped her hands on the scrap of cloth at her waist. The woman stopped her before she could step away and wiped her face making a small cooing noise. Soren smiled at her. Talos felt a small stab of jealousy that she hadn't smiled for him.

He placed the small black box he had carried with him everywhere since he had joined the service. It was worn at the edges and the paint flaked away to dark dark blue. Giz eyed it nervously, catching the child's hand before they could tug on his ear.

Soren reached the table and lifted the child to balance them on her hip. She nodded over her shoulder.

"Go help Reema," she told Giz. The boy slouched away and Soren sat in his chair. She reached across the table and pulled the box towards her. Talos sat across from them and tried not to look at her.

The babe was on her lap and her hands were busy turning his communicator over and over. Every once in a while fat baby hands would reach for her chin or her face. Soren would smile and blow small raspberries against their hand until they released her, giggling. Talos was achingly aware this was not the reality for most Skrull children.

"If Ala's bothering you Soren just put them on the ground," Reema called back between the rhythmic sounds of hard root vegetables being chopped.

"We're fine," Soren answered. She turned to Ala and pressed a loud kiss to their cheek. Ala moved their hands happily. "Aren't we?"

Her eyes caught Talos' stare as she talked sweetly to the child. She coughed and turned her attention back to the task at hand. She opened the device and looked at the innards. There was not much she could know for certain without turning it on. The device was simple and of Skrull design. There was something intimately familiar about the technology of her people. She felt she could understand it.

"I need my tools," she said as Ala's hand fastened with surprising grip around one of her shining buckles. "And no baby."

She glanced at Reema and the kids. She didn't want to put Ala on the floor. She stood with the toddler in her arms and deposited them on Talos' lap. His hands instinctively caught their chubby middle and he looked at Soren with what only could described as fear.

"Hold on. This was not in the deal," he protested with stiff shoulders.

"I won't be gone long," Soren smiled at Ala.

Giz looked over his shoulder at the apprehensive man trying to keep the wriggling Ala firmly seated in his lap.

"Ma," he called to Reema. "Ma the prisoner has the baby."

Reema glanced over her shoulder at Talos who was staring intently as Ala put a fastner from his coat into their mouth. She knocked Giz gently in the ear with her dough covered hand. He ducked, his shoulder coming up to stop the stickiness clinging to his rings.

"Hush. He has two hands, doesn't he?"

Soren came back with a small leather roll clenched under her arm. She tugged Ala's ear gently as she passed and they giggled immediately reaching for Talos' ear.

"Could we not teach the baby bad habits?" He growled at her as she unrolled her tools. She set to work. "Hey, you were supposed to take them back."

Soren looked up at him impishly as she began soddering wires. The small light of the wires melting together lit her face in the dim kitchen. "Fire and baby don't mix."

Talos grumbled and settled Ala more firmly against him. He patted their back in a slow rhythm. Gently but firm. The closest approximation to what he could remember his parents doing before he slept. Ala's wriggling lessened and their body began to sag against him. He could feel a small round cheek press into his shoulder.

"See? You're a natural," Soren teased him quietly as the smell of sour metal floated beneath the rising scent of dinner.

"Eyes on your work, woman" he whispered back.

They sat quietly as Ala dozed and Soren tinkered. At last, she snapped the box together again, from it hung a tail of wires connected to a different piece.

"Ready?" She asked him holding up the box for him to take. She kept a hand on the other side.

"What are you doing?" He asked looking over Ala and nodding at the black pad clutched in her hand.

"I will scramble the location while you talk."

"I can handle it," he reached for the other piece as Ala began to fuss. Reema sighed and swept in taking the baby from Talos.

"Out. Both of you. No spying in the kitchen."

Reema passed Thalla the baby as Soren packed up her tools.

Talos grumbled as Soren took the comm back and left the Galley. He followed her down the hall until she paused outside a door looking up and down the hallway. She keyed in the code and the door wooshed open.

Beyond was a tight space lined with shelves.

"I hope this isn't your room," Talos muttered as he squeezed in behind her.

"Last thing we need is the others hearing you. They are nervous enough." She turned to face him her back pressing against the shelves.

"But the kitchen was fine?"

Soren batted away his concerns. If she noticed how close they were cramped together as the door slid closed, plunging them into the dark, then she didn't give any indication.

"Reema wouldn't mind. And Thalla and Giz know."

She passed him his comm back.

"I didn't see a feed for visuals," she commented as she slunk lower.

"Only if I augment the set up with a reflective surface."

Soren nodded. In the dark he could see the line of her lip pout slightly. "Clever."

"We have been doing this a long time," he shrugged. He was very aware that a half step forward would press her body to the shelves.

"Ready?" She asked. Nerves made her slightly breathless. He didn't know if it was the thought of hearing the Council or the tight quarters.

"No time like the present," he agreed turning the comm on. The wires between them came to life with a familiar blue glow. Soren's fingers immediately started moving over the small keypad.

"General Talos, I am glad to see your heart rate has returned to normal." The dry voice of the Council came over the line. Soren's eyes glanced at him. He ignored her.

"I am checking in as requested."

"Why can't we locate you, General?"

Soren continued to work. Her teeth caught her lip and her eyes kept looking at him. Didn't she have any idea how distracting she was when he was trying to lie to the Government?

"I am imbedded with the Ulohmu. Their systems are advanced. They will have blockers in place."

Soren raised her brow at him and he shrugged. The Council did not need to know that all of the Ulohmu's technology seemed to be contained in the mind of one woman.

"The Ulohmu?" The Council repeated.

"Yes. They were on Cairn. I have aligned myself with them in order to gain information."

"Do you have any immediate concerns about their course of action?"

"Negative."

"Do you believe they have valuable assets?"

"Yes," he answered. He looked at Soren. At the way her hands moved quickly, at the concentration in her dark eyes. He could see her kissing Ala's hands. The two images of her superimposed until he felt a low ache in his gut.

"You have our permission to continue this course, General but do not be reckless. Secure any assests you can and disengage at the next opportunity."

"Affirmative," he growled before closing the line. Soren looked up at him as the light in the wires faded.

He swore the closet had air in it when he followed her in. Now it seemed it had been burned away by the closeness of their bodies.

He put his hands on the shelf behind her. Her hand came up to push into the open collar of his shirt. He wondered as he brushed his cheek against hers if her mind was on the scar. If she was as aware as he was that if they wanted to the Council could find him. That he was dangerous to their safety.

"The others will wonder where we went," she protested as his hand moved to her jaw. His thumb brushing close to her mouth. Her fingers were tracing the small buttons of his shirt.

"They know what we are doing," he whispered to her. "We're spying. Galactic Espionage. Treason."

He muttered each word beneath her ear. He was going to be cold. This wasn't going to mean anything. He just wanted her to come to his side. Except he was terrible at resisting her.

"You have been alone too long, Talos" she said with a slight groan as his hands found the front of her shirt.

"Why does that matter?" He slipped the first button through the hole. He had waited long enough, hadn't he?

"Because you have forgotten," she whispered in his ear, clasping her hands around his, stopping their progress. "They won't save us dinner if we are late."

She pushed passed him and opened the door. Light flooded the dark closet. Talos growled, knocking his head once against the shelf in the empty space she left.

She was without a doubt trying to kill him.


	23. Chapter 23

Soren paused outside the door to Indes' room. In her pocket she had concealed the small device that she had risked a lot for, including her integrity.

She knocked and the panel hissed open. As was befitting her rank Indes had the Captain's room. Unlike Soren's small cramped loft on her ship the Ibu-Ibu had a full suite, with high ceilings and a small dining area with a kitchenette. Indes had removed her coat and walked barefoot in her tunic and trousers. Both the colour of faded indigo dye. Dania was in the kitchenette. Her veil and robes discarded and her silver limbs glinting dully in the light. One arm was completely gone, as was her forearm on the other side. One leg ended at the shin. The prosthetics were old. They moved awkwardly and Soren often itched to fix them but Dania wouldn't allow it. She was used to her body this way. Soren could direct her efforts other places.

"How was dinner?" Indes asked as Soren waited patiently just inside the door.

"Good. I missed Reema's cooking," Soren kept her head bowed. Indes tisked at her.

"My girl, what is with all this head bowing? Didn't I raise you to look forward?" Indes sat in one of the chairs as Dania loaded things on a tray.

"Let me help, Dania," Soren walked quickly to collect the tray. Dania let her take it but watched her warily as Soren set the table. She slid into the other seat.

"Guilt," she mouthed at Indes as Soren clattered dishes around.

Soren stepped back and rubbed her hands over her pants. She kept her eyes on Indes as she worried her lip.

"So, you stopped in Cairn?" Indes asked splitting open a steaming dumpling. Soren nodded. "And picked up quite the visitor."

"I had good reason. My contact from Rhondar reached out. She had concerns. And access to equipment that could help us. When I was there I learned of more. Our people receive no sympathy anywhere in the galaxy." She said the last sentence with venom. Cairn had disillusioned her. For many reasons.

"Are you surprised?"

"Yes. How can so many facts be known and they are still ignored?"

"It's the way of people everywhere. The harder the truth, the easier it is to ignore," Dania looked at her with patience.

"Is there hope for us?"

"To what end? To find another planet? To grow our numbers again? Finding the trust of others will always be a struggle for us. We can change our faces and people call it deception. It does not help the Elders of Skrullos use it to hide their intentions. To hunker down and infect. They confirm what the Kree say about us." Indes watched her words rain down on Soren and make her shoulders heavy. "For the sake of Skrullos girl, sit. You will give me indigestion hovering over us like that."

Soren smiled sadly and slid into the third seat at the table. She did not feel worthy of sitting with the women who guided their people. Not after she had opened the door for a spy. There was a time when this seat was hers alone. When every meal was had at this table.

She fiddled with a spare fork, her eyes downcast.

"It is not all doom and gloom. Everywhere we go we win new allies. We care for those hurt by the Kree. We balance the scales even if the galaxy at large does not see it. Do you do good deeds for the recognition, girl?"

"No," Soren muttered. She knew she was pouting.

Indes ate heartily as silence fell. Her eyes often flicking between Dania and Soren. As she finished she pushed her plate away and rested her hands on her stomach.

"Now before you tell us more of Cairn tell us about your man," Indes smiled and winked. Soren stuttered.

"Who?"

"You cannot lie to us. I may not have the eye but Dania told me you nearly rocked the ship earlier."

"I-I don't know what you mean?" Soren knew she was blushing. She focused more intently on the fork.

"How did you not know he was a Skrull? Are your powers weakening? You must have tried to see within him."

"His defenses are stronger than any I have met. Including other members of the Elders of Skrullos." Soren looked to Dania for back up. The woman was so much less intimidating without her heavy robes.

"He is strong. He knows when you try to push your way in. There are other ways. Especially when Indes makes him think of Soren." Dania reached out and tickled below her ear. Soren squirmed and knocked her away.

She was certain this was how she died. Of embarrassment between the women who raised her. She growled.

"Don't tease," Soren pled.

"My sweet Soren, finally you have found someone who challenges that mind of yours?"

Dania got up on creaking limbs and walked to the kitchenette. She removed from a cupboard small dark fruit.

"It is good you have come, supplies were dwindling," Dania sat down again and passed each woman a Nadiirian plum. Soren smiled as she turned it in her hands. Indes always purchased some when they came across them in markets. And although a galaxy of food had changed Soren's palate the small dark plums were always a secret message between them. Indes had found her in the guts of a ship because Soren had stolen plums from a stall Indes was shopping at.

A meeting of fate. As she turned the fruit in the light Soren thought she had found words to describe the colour of Talos' eyes.

"Don't smile at it, eat it" Indes sighed at her. She looked at Dania in exasperation.

"I am saving it," Soren gave Indes a coy look as she tucked it in her pocket. Dania raised her eyebrows at her mate.

"Fine, no more about the man. Tell us what was so concerning on Cairn."

Soren took in a deep breath.

"My contact was concerned Rhondar was going to repeat itself. The SI had tasked Woh-Lar to find a store of magnesite. An even bigger one than any of the others. Whatever planet housed it would be decimated by Kree stripmining."

"And their unsafe practices. Slavery is what some would call it."

"And murder," Dania agreed.

"Were you able to get a location?"

Soren became fascinated by the table again.

"Soren?"

"Woh-Lar is dead. And his research is gone."

"Soren," Indes cried out rising from the table. She paced with one hand on her forehead. "What was your thinking? That is not our way."

"He came for Emerys," Soren grit her teeth. She swallowed at the memory. "She thought he might. She was scared of it. I stopped him."

"Soren," Indes sunk into her chair again. Every breath drenched in heartache. Soren moved to Indes, crouching in front of her and taking her hands.

"I am fine. I am fine and Emerys is fine and the planet will be safe a little longer."

Indes ran a hand along Soren's cheek.

"I am sorry this war has ever touched you."

"There is no escaping it," Soren smiled sadly at her. She bent her head and kissed Indes' paper thin hand.

"I meant the one between young women and the men who seek to harm them," Indes clarified her voice tired. Soren placed her cheek in Indes' lap as she continued to stroke her head.

"Even more inevitable then," Soren laughed. A sound that didn't reach her heart.

"You said there was more Soren?" Dania broke the moment between them. Soren nodded. She stood up and fished a small box out of her pocket. She placed it on the table. Both women looked at it.

"What is it?"

"When I was on Cairn we intercepted a signal while trolling the black market for gear. Two students were selling this. It's meant to be a blocker to stop listening devices."

"Why do we care? Anything you build would be better," Indes asked picking up the box. Soren grinned at her praise.

"I know from building them what they proposed would not work. The frequency though, is hard to replicate. They stumbled upon it by accident but it would be bad for us."

"How?"

"It's easier if I show you," Soren moved to Dania and knelt in front of her. She reached her hands in front of her. "May I shift into you?"

"Of course, but why?" Dania nodded as Soren shivered. It would be quick. Her mind's eye already held Dania thoroughly. She stumbled and fell forwards as her limbs shrunk into her. She groaned at the pain. Dania caught her as she panted.

Soren was flooded with sensation. Concern, love, hopelessness. Her body ached with phantom pain where her limbs had been. When she looked at Indes she felt stronger.

"Turn on the device," Soren said as she sagged in Dania's metal embrace.

Indes flipped the switch and vibration filled the room. Soren began to shake. Her body convulsing into Dania's hands. The longer the device was on the harder she thrashed.

Indes went to turn it off, to make the pressure stop.

"No," Soren howled as she fell side ways. She exhaled and her limbs came bursting forth again. She howled more. Dania looked horrified and Indes shut the device off with a slamming click. The women sunk to the floor. Dania rubbed Soren's returned leg until the pain stopped and Indes put her head in her lap.

Soren laughed deliriously as the pain subsided. Indes batted at her ear.

"Next time use your words, you foolish girl."

"I was going for dramatic effect," Soren panted rolling on her side, guarding the plum from being crushed. "You understand my concerns?"

"What happened to the students?"

Soren looked guilty as she rolled upright again.

"We killed them. Briefly."

"What does that mean? Did you lose your mind on Cairn?" Indes shoved angrily at her shoulder from where she knelt. The three of them in a pile on the floor.

"Thalla brought them back while Giz and I destroyed their research." Soren's voice echoed as she curled away from Indes' blows.

"And what is to stop them making it again?" Dania asked regarding the small box with a fearful look in her eye.

"Thwane took the memory," Soren admitted. Behind her Indes moaned in frustration.  
She staggered to her feet.

"This is not how we do things Soren," she cried as she paced. Dania still knelt. Soren got to her feet and reached to help Dania. With her pressed against her side she could feel the calm radiating from the older woman, seeping into Indes.

"With a weapon that strong, in the the wrong hands, Indes you must see Soren's side. She did not have us to guide her." Dania sat again her two hands clasping Soren's.

"Take that thing Soren and go back to the Spy. He has been alone too long and I can't- I need time to think."

Soren bowed her head and snatched the device from the table. The blow she had been flinching against finally fell. And it ached as hard as she expected it to.

Dania walked with her, her cold hand wrapped around her arm. The slight limp part of her soothing rhythm. Soren laid her head on Dania's shoulder.

"I would not have done what you feared, child. Never to you or any of our clan." Dania kissed her forehead and Soren felt one thousand shards of guilt explode in her chest.

"I am sorry, I just-" she lacked the words as they walked the few slow paces to the door. Dania squeezed her arm.

"You felt you deserved to be treated like an outcast."

Soren nodded water pricking at her eyes.

"Little Soren," Dania cooed at her as they reached the door. "I will talk to her. Never think you don't belong here."

Soren hugged Dania's stiff body before stepping out the door and feeling it rush closed behind her.

* * *

Talos was in the galley at the counter. Giz was seated at the table, a long rifle trained on Talos' back. When Soren came in Talos turned to her, his expression fed up and his sleeves rolled up to his elbows. His hands were in the sink. The sudsy waterer soaking the edges of his shirt.

"What are you doing?" Soren asked looking down at Giz, her brows drawn together.

"Ma told me to do the dishes," Giz answered her, a pleased twinkle in his eye.

"Then why is Talos doing them?"

"The sod caught me in the hallway with that thing," Talos complained from the sink. Giz laughed.

"Where did you get that?" Soren walked around Giz, stopping in front of him to look down the barrel. Talos glanced over his shoulder.

"Soren, would you get away from that lunatic?" Talos growled splashing in the greasy water. Soren batted away his concerns. She leaned in closer, bending to put her eyes on level with the barrel.

"I got it from Tank. You're blocking my view of the prisoner," Giz moaned.

"He isn't a criminal, Giz," Soren wandered to the counter and leaned with her back against it, her shoulder a few inches from Talos. "He's a spy. He wants to be here. He would have probably done the dishes if you'd asked. Right?"

Talos looked down into her warm dark eyes, and her quirking mouth. She made him want to growl. "Depends how nicely you asked."

He shifted pans out of the water moving them to the counter to dry. He kept his eyes locked on her, as if he could read in her face all that passed since they parted. She looked sad despite the way she batted her eyes at him and messed with Giz.

"Ugh," Giz made a disgusted sound as he lowered his longblaster. "It's even harder for me to look at you two now I know what he thinks."

"Hey," Talos growled at him over his shoulder. He turned his head back to Soren. "You could at least dry them if you are going to stand there."

She sighed and grabbed the towel from his shoulder. She pulled it away from him slowly, every inch as it slipped away feeling as intimate as a caress.

"Soren don't help the prisoner," Giz whined.

"That's enough, Giz. Get out of here." Soren started drying dishes and putting them in the cupboards.

"Why? So you two can go at it on the counter? I don't think so." Giz retrained the blaster on Talos.

"I like the way the boy thinks," Talos murmured under his breath as Soren leaned across to take another plate from him. Her grin was wicked as she leaned against his shoulder.

"Should we tell him it isn't loaded?" She whispered in his ear.

"Why ruin his fun?" Talos' eyes glanced behind him to see Giz watching them with a look that was half annoyance, half slacked jawed fascination. He took the towel from Soren and dried his hands. He threw the cloth on the counter.

"Sorry, this will be damp," he muttered. She quirked her head at him but the question died on her lips as he grabbed her waist and lifted her onto the counter. She made a sound that was almost a laugh mostly a gasp as she landed hard on the towel. He was between her knees before she even realized what happened, his shoulder stopping her from falling forward. Steam rose from the sink and made Soren feel sweaty.

"For the sake of Skrullos," Giz cried out as Soren and Talos laughed.

"Watch the language," Soren admonished between gasping giggles. Talos raised his eyebrows at her.

"Fine, you win. I am leaving. You two are gross," Giz caught up his rifle and slouched out of the room.

Soren watched him leave, she started to slide off the counter but Talos blocked her with one knee as he shifted back to the sink and the dwindling pile of dishes.

"I thought we agreed you were going to ask me nicely to do the dishes."

Soren rolled her eyes and pulled the slightly bruised plum from her pocket.

"You're already doing them," she sassed him, holding the plum at the height of his shoulder. Talos looked at it through the corner of his eye.

"What are you doing?" He asked her trying to step away from the hovering fruit.

"This is the same colour as your eyes," she shrugged moving the small black purple plum to her mouth. He grabbed her wrist, hot dish water running down both their arms.

"You can't say something like that then bite it."

"Do you want the first bite?" She flexed her hand towards him. Talos' grip tightened as he bit into the soft flesh, his hot breath passing the sensitive skin of her wrist. It was orange and watery inside. The juice spilled down across her palm. He let her go and chewed. The skin was smooth and caught in his teeth as the sweet flesh burst across his tongue. Soren turned the fruit and bit the other side. She licked the juice from the mound of her palm.

"It's good. What is it?" Talos asked his hands back in the sink but his eyes on her sucking mouth.

"Nadiirian plum," she held it out for him again. He thought as he sunk his teeth in he would rather taste it off her skin. "They grow where I am from."

She took the last bite, popping the pit into her mouth and sucking it clean. Each ridge rough against her tongue. He was watching her with such intensity she thought she might choke.

She pulled the pip from between her lips with one hand and dipped the other in the water to wash away the stickiness. She tossed the pit into the garbage chute with a satisfying ting.

"When did you leave Nadiir?" Talos kept his eyes on the dishes. It was not a good place for a child.

"Ten years ago, when Indes found me," her hands gripped the counter as Talos shifted the last of the dishes to the counter behind her. He would have been in his final year of training. About to enter the field.

"What about your parents?" He asked reaching behind her to retrieve the towel. Soren pushed down on his shoulders so she could lift her body from the rag. One of his hands, wet and hot, grabbed her waist beneath her jacket to steady her as the other pulled. He was leaning so far forward his chin was practically on her chest and she had to look down at him.

As she sunk down again, he dried his hands.

"Giz said you think about me," she said looking down at the splashes of water on his shirt.

"I do," he growled. Her eyes flicked up to his face.

"I keep hearing it from others. I want to hear it from you," she looked at him pleadingly as he stepped away from her. A dangerous conversation to have so close to her.

"I can't tell if you are the smartest woman I have ever met," he looked at her intensely. "Or if you are just surrounded by trigger happy idiots."

She laughed, surprised, and swatted at him.

"That's my family you are insulting."

He caught her hand and brought her wrist to his mouth. He moved his lips over the thin skin there and watched as her eyes focused on him and her mouth went slightly slack. The gold was back. Glittering immaterial in the air. She was more ripe for picking than the plum they had shared. And almost as bruised from travel. Talos pretended he could still taste the nectar that had spilled there. His tongue dipped between the taut tendons in her wrist.

"Fine," he said against her skin. "What I really think is you are brilliant, gorgeous and completely wasted here. We could do so much good if you came to my side."

"Don't," her voice wavered as it broke around her desire. He moved her hand to his mouth stepping closer to her again. He kissed the space between each knuckle.

"Don't what?" He looked at her eyes locked on their joined hands, she looked like she could fall into him and he told his heart it wasn't allowed to beat so fast.

"Use your influence on me."

Talos growled putting a hand on either side of her thighs. "It's not fun when someone else does it, is it?"

It could be though. It could be so fun to make her pant and shake. He had done it once. He could do it again and again.

"I'm sorry. I was wrong before," she pressed her hand to her chest. Her throat so tight with the shimmering desire she sounded almost as if she was sobbing. "I was scared Indes would know how bad I had been. That she would be mad. She is but now she knows. I won't ask for you to lie for me again."

"And how bad have you been, Soren?" He breathed the words into her ear and she made a small sound as her thighs made room for him. He could get lost in the space between their bodies. Close his eyes and let himself be drawn into her.

"I shouldn't have done any of it," she said in the same breathless voice. He wanted to hear her say everything this way. He wanted even the most minute confession to come between her heavy sighs. He wanted to know every misdeed that kept her up at night and then he wanted to absolve her of them with the weight of his own sins and the movement of their bodies. "I broke our most sacred rules. I turned my back on our ways the moment I was tested. I behaved like you."

He felt the rumble in his chest at her words. He felt possessive of her disobedience. If she had fallen once he could make her fall again.

And again and again.

"Will you admit you liked it? Doing it my way?"

She shook her head. She was frozen. He could practically taste her wanting him but she didn't move closer to him. She wouldn't admit how easy it was to do things the way of the Council. How effective it was.

"I will never do it again," she swore.

Talos stepped away from her before it became impossible. The reasons they shouldn't do this now had changed. She may know who he was but she was still fighting him. He may fascinate her but he wanted her to fall into his arms. Not be trying to barter his allegiance while he made love to her. And not to think he was trying to trick her into changing sides. They couldn't until she had seen for herself the harm the Ulohmu did to the Skrull cause.

"I won't lie to you either," she watched him back away from her.

"Then tell me what you think of me."

Soren's mouth hung open slightly. She looked down at the hand he had kissed. "I think you are good man, masquerading as an indifferent one."

Talos scoffed. There was a sort of unspoiled sweetness in her. A desire to see the best in him. He would disappoint her.

"And what will you do if you are wrong about me?"

She reached out and touched center of his chest.

"You can't keep me out for forever," she told him. Her hand was so small in the expanse of his chest.

"I only need to make it to the ship," he stepped away from her. From the madness and solace she offered. "And so do you. You need to sleep."

Soren shook her head.

"I am not going to the ship."

"What do you mean?"

"I am staying with the Ibu-Ibu." Her eyes swept the small dim kitchen.

"You can't. It's sinking into the muck."

"I am going to save it."

"Not before you drown in sulfur." The desire was back to take her by the shoulders and shake her.

"That's my decision to make. As you said my ship isn't big enough for all of us."

"You can't expect me to leave you here," he had been drifting closer to her. His frustration and his concerns blinding him to the movement of his body.

"Tonight will be our last night. Then you will be free of me. Unless-"

"Unless what?"

"You come back for me," she shrugged as if she had not just tilted everything on its axis.

He grabbed the lapels of her jacket and tugged her so hard her long body slid from the counter. He crushed his mouth to hers. The first proper kissed between them and he was seething with anger. Who did she think she was sacrificing herself to an idealist group of fools?

Calm washed over him. And conviction. She softened beneath him so he was forced to soften. To move his grasping hands from her jacket to her chin and tilt her head so he could slip his tongue along her bottom lip. He should hate her. He should be glad she would be buried in the swamp. She should be his enemy but all he was was desperate to keep her by his side.

She pushed him away, their mouths parting slowly.

He wanted just one more moment of her.

"Think about it, Talos. You know where I will be."

She escaped from him again. Sliding passed to disappear into some corner where he could not search for her. Nestled between these wild women. He grunted as he looked at the dewy dishes and the mucky sink. He had work to occupy his hands while his head caved in on itself with arguing.


	24. Chapter 24

Soren's heart was racing. She held onto the wall with one shaking hand as she descended into the ship. She hadn't wanted to leave him. She almost wanted him to pursue her. Throw her over his shoulder and carry her to some private corner of the ship. Or even beyond its walls to the jungle and further. She had never truly hated the war before this moment. If she had been asked she would have said she did but now as she was retreating from the man standing on the other side of it, she understood true hatred.

He was right when he said they should stand together but she couldn't abandon her family. She wondered what held him to his side other than the tracker beneath his skin. She wished more than anything he could tell her. Maybe he would if she gave into him. If she had melted into his embrace as she longed to do and given him everything.

It was a new sensation to her, intimate touches against her own skin. She wanted to explore it with him. She wanted to explore him. She wanted to know if he had had another while wearing his true face.

He was older than her. He had been out in the galaxy and seen more places than her. She should revel in that experience even as the thought of his past made her ache. She didn't know with what. Jealousy? Longing? For what? To be older? To be important to him?

She felt giddy remembering his mouth on her skin as her boots slipped the last few feet and she let herself bang into the door jamb of sleeping quarters. She paused as looked up the darken hallway she had come from.

He hadn't followed. That was for the best she told herself as disappointment blossomed.

She unlocked the door and crept into the upturned darkness. All over the room possessions had spilled out. Either from the crash or from packing. Spread across the floor of the tiny cabin was about eight younger Skrulls. The door slid closed behind her.

Adrenaline still rippled through her as she stepped around the bodies on the floor. It was rude to walk through a room of sleeping empaths feeling anything less than serene.

"Soren," Thalla hissed and Soren followed the sound to a far corner. "I saved you a spot."

"I told her you wouldn't come. Too busy with Tall, Virere and Handsome," Tank teased as Soren reached their little nest. Soren managed to get Tank in the shins as she kicked off her boots and stripped off her jacket. Tank moaned in the darkness. "It's not my fault you two look like you want to eat each other alive."

"I am getting sick of hearing about it," Soren whispered harshly back and she settled between the two girls. The mattress beneath her was lumpy and hard.

"Now you know how I felt," Thalla muttered as she turned towards Soren. Soren poked her in the ribs.

"We were making fun of Giz, not you." Tank clarified propping herself up on one elbow so she could see Thalla over Soren. "Now we're making fun of Soren."

"Both of you go to sleep," Soren shut her eyes pointedly.

"Do you have an implant?" Thalla asked as her eyes continued to stare at Soren's profile.

"I can't hear you," Soren grit from between hee teeth.

"Of course, Soren has an implant. When we were on -" Tank's words were silenced as Soren rolled on top of her and pressed her hand over her mouth.

"No, I want to know," Thalla moaned as she latched onto Soren's shoulders and tried to drag her back. "No one ever tells me anything."

Soren let herself be dragged away as Tank licked her hand. Tank laughed triumphantly and too loudly. There was a chorus of shushes from the dark.

Soren looked over at Thalla. She was getting older she realized. It was easy to forget because Soren remembered her coming there as a little girl. Now she was almost a woman with no resources. Soren sighed and got up. She dragged her pillow and the blanket with her.

"Come on you two, " she hissed in the dark as Tank and Thalla followed her collecting their things.

They snuck down the hall of the darkened ship. Soren opened the door of the cockpit that had been abandoned for weeks. No light came from the shield as a wall of muck coated it. The angle of the room was so steep it was easier to slide in than walk. Their stolen pillows and blankets lined against the tilted console so they could gather in a pile. Soren reached up and activated the panel so the room was lit with low orange light. She could see Thalla and Tank easily again. Thalla was looking at her with wide excited eyes.

"I have never been in here without an adult before," Thalla whispered.

"What do you call us?" Tank asked in mock horror throwing her arms around Soren's shoulders. "Soren is practically married."

Soren raised her fist at her friend as Thalla snorted behind her hands.

"I meant like Neva or Veda," Thalla corrected sticking her tongue out. Neither woman had much patience for anyone who had grown up in the Ulohmu.

"You get used to them," Soren answered spreading blankets to make a nest for them. The three settled with Soren in the middle.

"Okay, so we are on Ghodar-" Tank started again. Thalla was hanging on every word.

"I reserve the right to correct any wild accusations you make," Soren held up her hands before Tank could get carried away.

"Fine, we are on Ghodar. I am nineteen and Soren's sixteen. She is the worst," Tank moaned as Soren poked her in the ribs. "She was. There was like a quarter of us then and no one was my age. And Soren was always working. Always."

"I had a lot to do," Soren interjected.

"And Indes would never let us go anywhere because of the plague."

"There was a plague?" Thalla breathed her question in awe.

"That's why we were there," Soren added without flourish before Tank could keep going. "Reema was helping with the patients. She had summoned Indes. She was ready to join us after the Kree blockaded a shipment of medicine until the Ghodar Imperium handed over their head healer. Who they suspected was a Skrull."

"And Ghodar was getting close to doing it until someone hacked the Kree system and the cargo ship could suddenly land," Tank shot Soren a significant look.

"And you said I wasn't any fun," Soren stuck out her tongue at Tank. "We followed the cargo ship to the planet's surface while the blockade was down. That's how Reema and her family joined us. And she knew of others nearby."

"Oh gosh, do you remember Giz?" Tank covered her mouth as she laughed, her body falling into Soren. Thalla looked delighted.

"What about Giz?" She was eager. It was as if a treasure trove had opened beneath her. Soren covered her face.

"No, that's a mean story. Don't tell it," she groaned into her hands.

"Giz was thirteen. I lied Soren wasn't the worst Giz was the worst. Then Soren. Close second." Tank spoke wildly with her hands. "So Giz has never seen other Skrulls before. Even his parents spend most of their time looking Ghodarian. And he knows they can shapeshift, even though he is kind of bad at it. And he knows his mom can see illness in the body, which he can't do at all. So he is all over us when we land."

"What can you do? What can you do?" Soren smiled. "It made sense. Imagine finding out you might have super power."

"So, Soren," Tank knocked their knees together as Soren covered her face. "Being the lovely brat that she is, convinces Giz he can levitate stuff. With his mind."

Soren tried to keep a straight face as Thalla laughed wildy. "He was such a brat. I just wanted him to go away so I could work."

"How did you do that?" Thalla gripped her elbow.

"So I had a-"

"Stole. You stole it."

"I procured a magitron gauntlet from a Kree encampment before we reached Ghodar."

"What? How?"

"They were there. I saw my opportunity," Soren shrugged.

"Who are you?" Thalla demanded. She looked so happy, Soren regretted they had ignored the girl so often when Thalla had first come.

"It was different then. There was so few of us and almost no supervision. Tank was practically on the mothers circle."

"I ran on a platform of more boys and less curfew," Tank added. "All it got us was Giz."

"I may have used the gauntlet to fool Giz into thinking he could lift stuff with his mind for an hour. He was really upset after," Soren leaned her head back and sighed. It wasn't as long ago as it felt. "Not my finest hour. And it got us both errand duty."

"Which was why we were in the market place together when it happened," Tank leaned over Soren to continue the story.

"What happened?" Thalla was rapt.

"Boys," Tank sighed and collapsed dreamily on Soren's lap. Soren tugged Tank's ear, rolling her eyes.

"There was a Ghodarian military Academy in the market. Tank was practically foaming at the mouth."

"So we knew two things; one we are going to need to find girls to shift into and two I wanted an implant. Immediately." Tank counted on her fingers.

"What about Soren?"

"Soren was completely at my mercy because she can't ditch me or she will be in more trouble and if she snitches I would have beaten her up."

"What did you do?"

"We went to Reema."

"Did she help you after you were mean to Giz?"

"No one knows better than Reema how annoying Giz can be. She understood we were just cooped up kids letting off steam." Tank continued on.

"So what did she do?"

"She gave us implants," Soren answered scooting her back down low on the console so she could tug at the waistband of her pants. She lifted her shirt and took Thalla's hand running her small fingers over the familiar ridge just above her hip bone.

"Is that it?" Thalla asked.

"That's it," Soren nodded scooting back up again. "And if you don't have one don't trust your partner to take care of it."

"Yep," Tank nodded emphatically. "Boys can get them too even though they usually don't so prod him all over if he says he is chipped. And if you don't find it don't let him prod you."

Thalla blushed and giggled. "So did you meet any of the boys?"

"No," Tank rolled her eyes. "Reema could give us the chip but we didn't know how to find Ghodarian faces. And Soren was being a huge stick in the mud."

"I was sick," Soren defended.

"Why?" Thalla asked. Soren knew the plague was on her mind.

"Side effect of an implant. It happens."

"Doesn't it fall out when you shift?"

"That's why you need Reema to do it. Or another Skrull. You can't just go to anybody."

"Does Talos have one?" Thalla asked a little breathlessly. Soren coughed awkwardly.

"What kind of question is that?" Soren muttered, she was grateful for the low light so they couldn't see her blush.

"It doesn't matter cause Soren has one," Tank interrupted. She winked, "unless she takes it out so they can make cute green babies. Make sure he sticks around."

"You are awful, don't even joke about it," Soren admonished her.

"How long were you on Ghodar?"

Tank and Soren looked at each other. A mellow sweet sadness bridged between them. Ghodar had almost been a home. Had almost been perfect.

"Six months," Tank sighed. "Give or take."

"Why did you leave?" Thalla's question tasted of longing.

Soren closed her eyes. She felt Tank grip her hand under the blanket. The heat of the fire. The screams as bombs fell. The desperate dash to the ship as the Elders of Skrullos entered the atmosphere in a Xandarian aid ship. They had watched it crack through the shield and been full of hope more supplies had come. Until the message demanding Indes surrender the children had come through the comms.

Soren didn't want that to be what Thalla thought of when she looked at Talos. She didn't want Giz's anger to find foothold in her heart.

Soren put her arms around Thalla and kissed her temple. "It was time. Besides we had to come find you."

At that moment, the whole ship shuddered and groaned. They lurched as the floor beneath them moved. Thalla grabbed Soren back.

Black and as heavy as the sulfur stench fear rose throughout the ship and poured down the incline to them. Soren was nearly suffocated by it. Even smiling unflappable Tank looked briefly wary.

"What was that?" Thalla whispered.

"The ship is settling," Soren stroked the back of her head comfortingly. "It's okay. You leave tomorrow."

Thalla looked up at her with wide eyes, "I don't want to leave you behind."

"I will be fine. And Talos will guide you back to the ship. Make sure the others are kind to him."

Soren squeezed Thalla back as they all hunkered closer together. The silence that fell after the shaking of the ship held until one by one they drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Soren woke first between Thalla and Tank. It was impossible to tell what time of day it was. She should wake them and make sure they were ready for the next stage of theit journey but she wasn't ready to say goodbye just yet. No matter how much faith she had that she could save the Ibu-Ibu, partings came with modicom of finality. They would never meet the same way again. Wholeness was always chipped away.

Soren climbed from the cockpit and into the hall. Movement was happening in small rustles throughout the ship. Somewhere Ala was crying and Reema was cooing at them. Soren slipped through the hallway towards the back hatch. She felt like her lungs were bursting from being inside so long. She should be used to it by now, but knowing there was air beyond the ship made her antsy.

She lifted the small door after disengaging the pressure seal. She pulled herself up through and onto the smooth burnished copper of the roof. She could see like freckles the glass domes that were above the main chamber speckle across the ship. It was dawn. Above the swirling storm clouds were light purple and the air was cold. On the horizon deep red promised a sweltering day.

She walked along the top of the ship, half-heartedly surveying the damage. Her mind was too full in that moment to truly see what needed to be done. The nose of the ship disappeared into the muck only a scant few inches from the solid rock shore. They had been within a single long stride from landing on the outside the bog. Instead, the behemoth was buried and sinking. As she came lower over the nose she could hear water and scuffling. She took a couple shuffling steps wary of the incline and peaked over the nose.

Talos was standing on the shore, stripped to the waist. Balanced on the narrow start of the wing was a basin of water, his shirt and jacket, and a towel. Soren sat down just above him and watched as he dipped a rag in the steaming water and ran it over his face and neck. His skin prickled as he let rivulets of hot water run over his shoulders and chest. Her thoughts must have snuck away from her because Talos looked up suddenly to where she sat. She smiled

"You run out of dishes?" Soren called down as she slid over the curve of the ship, landing nimbly on the wing. He had felt her watching him, her mind reaching out with deep red coils whether she meant it to or not.

"Your privies are full of women. I am starting to think I am the only man on board." Talos reached for the towel and dried his face.

"You are. Other than Giz." She walked along the wing until it hung over the land and she jumped down. "His father was with us for a while but he died last year."

Talos looked at the towel in his hands as if it held all his attention before he put it on the wing. That explained some of the anger. "I am sorry for the boy. And his mother."

"I am sad Ala will never know their father. We don't really have anything to give them either."

Soren reached him and stepped behind, taking the cloth from the basin.

"Turn around," she ordered and Talos obeyed. He felt the cloth against the skin of his shoulder. Where he had been cold before was wonderfully warm. He could believe the planet was just them in that moment. "It's been hard for Giz. And for all of us. We always had memories when nothing else was left but you worry if it will be enough for Ala. Will they know how wanted and loved they were?"

She moved the cloth slowly. Dipping it in the water again when she had to. Talos got the impression she was cataloguing the small scars and imperfections that littered his back and sides. Something far off in the way she spoke.

"How did he die?" Talos almost did not want to know. Already did know what the answer would be. Why Giz could hate him no matter his form.

"When Ghodar burned he stayed in the fires too long, pulling out the sick. Trying to save the equipment. His lungs never recovered. Reema can see disease, she must have watched it take him slower than the rest of us and for longer."

There was a hitch in Soren's voice. Talos wanted to turn and look at her but he sensed she was happier to mourn in the shadow of his back. Talos knew who had burned Ghodar.

She brought the cloth to his other shoulder, tracing the mark he knew was there. Old, thick and pale.

"This one must have hurt," she whispered. She didn't need an answer but he felt he owed her one anyway.

"It did. It's been with me a long time. I barely remember how it felt."

"What happened?" She asked stepping closer to wash down his side, her arms snaking around him catching the cut line of his stomach.

"A burning beam fell on me when the Kree destroyed Zendinar. My father died in the attack so I consider myself lucky I got away with just that."

Talos didn't think he had tears for that time anymore. They had been smoked and dried out of him by another twenty years of war. Soren rested her cheek on his back, around him sorrow bubbled. Sweet and close like sparkling wine. It loosened something in him and he was forced to blink it away in the morning light.

"I'm sorry, Talos" she said her hands flattening across his stomach. The warmth of them and the damp cloth making his skin shiver. She stepped away from him too soon. He wanted to pull her back. The cloth moved over his other side until her fingers paused along the one inch ridge above his hip. He pressed his hand over hers.

"Ask me what that is," his voice was gruff. She freed her hand from beneath his and turned to take the towel. She dried the dampness from his skin.

"I know what it is," she murmured. Talos wanted to laugh. She could be so coy about things. She threw towel over his shoulder.

He turned back around again as he heard rustling and the clinking of buckles. She was facing away from him, looking out over the wing. She had stripped away her jacket and shirt. As he watched her, she slowly rolled up the singlet she wore under it all. Talos made a wheezing sound he would never admit to as inch after inch of emerald skin was exposed. She looked over her shoulder, the white cloth held against her. She quirked her brow at him.

"Are you alright?"

Talos had no words to answer. Only a sort of grunting sound.

"It's just been a long time since someone tried to seduce me," he found his tongue. Soren made a scoffing sound. "At least in broad daylight where anyone could happen upon us."

"Why waste the hot water?" She asked reaching for the cloth. She dipped it in the water squeezing it over and over.

"I couldn't agree more," Talos muttered as he watched Soren tilt her head back and wash the long column of her throat. She rolled her head forward and washed the back of her neck. A single bead of water ran down her spine. Talos wondered if she would be shocked if he licked it off her.

"Did the Elders give it to you or did you get it yourself?" Soren asked, reaching for the water again.

"What?" Talos' mind was focused other places, currently memorizing each dip of her vertebrae. He stepped forward and took the cloth from her.

"The implant," she specified as he wrung out the cloth.

"Standard issue," he answered her. Starting as she had at one shoulder. She hissed and curled her body forward, arms covering her chest and scapula spreading. Her back curved towards him as he moved the warm cloth slowly. She was so slim it would be over too quickly. "It's part of living in the colonies. Too many hatchlings lost in Accuser attacks."

"With so few of us how can they police their own colonies in that way?" She sounded offended. She didn't understand how often the Kree found them. How much better it was this way.

"The Council medics will remove it if the couple's request is approved. It keeps the colonies manageable."

Soren was disgusted. He washed her gently with steaming water but she had never felt more dirty.

"Manageable? You sound like the Kree."

"I am not saying what I believe," he was frustrated. Couldn't she see the Council just wanted what was best? He threw the cloth into the basin and took up the towel. He pulled her even closer as he dried her roughly. She let him even though she held her shirt in front of her and her body was stiff. "Skrull colonies aren't like this. They are slums hidden in places that tolerate us. Resources are tight. And when we are attacked there is no escape until our soldiers arrive."

"Are you saying we have it easy?"

Soren stepped away from him and pulled her singlet over her damp body. It clung even closer in places.

"No, no. I just-" Talos searched for the word. "It's not how it sounds. They want what's best for us."

She turned to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. He bent to wrap his arms around her waist. Condensation rose between their bodies.

"I don't want to fight before we part," she pressed her cheek against his and whispered in his ear.

"Don't make me leave you here. I can't."

Soren stepped away from him shaking her head. She got dressed again moving farther from his orbit.

"I need to try. We don't know long we have here until the Trill find us. They may have no love for the Kree but that doesn't mean they will willingly provoke them." She extended her hand to him, "I would have us part as friends."

Talos growled and pulled her towards him by her offered hand. She wrapped her arms around his waist as he enveloped her in his arms. He ran a delicate finger along the curve of her ear.

"I would have us part more than friends." He gripped her chin with his thumb and tilted her mouth up to him.

"Will you come back for me?" She whispered against his lips, brushing just a little too far away from him. Teasing.

"I don't know," he answered her honestly. She pushed him away as far as she could still in the circle of his arms.

"I won't kiss a man if he won't promise to come back for me," she tilted her head defiantly.

"What if I can't?" He mumbled trying to pull her back closer again. He needed her to give him some sign she was softening. That he wasn't going to get lost trying to bring her back to the path.

She shook her head, breaking from him completely and hopping back onto the wing.

"Then it will be easier for me to mourn a friend than a lover," she answered looking down at him with her hands in her pocket.

* * *

The Skrulls gathered on the shore, everything they could carry pulled from the ship. Soren was left with only a small pack of rations.

They milled about waiting for the signal to move forward.

Indes came out last moving slowly over the rickety bridge from land to ship. She stopped as she reached Soren.

"I meant for you to guard him all the way to the end," she said as she pulled Soren tight to her.

Soren squeezed her back, she knew this was her last time seeing Indes as she was. That something was close to changing and Soren could not avoid it any longer.

"Thalla will watch him for me." Soren's eyes flicked to where Talos was adjusting packs and talking to some of the mothers. His eyes moved to meet hers and he started through the gathered Ulohmu towards her.

"We are almost ready," he informed Indes as he reached them. A military formality to his voice. A hard habit to break Soren thought.

"Good," Indes nodded. "I have heard you have a new keeper?"

"Do I now?" His eyes locked with Soren. She opened her mouth to tell him but she was interrupted by the thwack of a stick hitting Talos' pack.

"It's me, Beast" Thalla informed him, a rakish tilt to her chin.

"I am already terrified," Talos smiled at her. "Are we ready to move then, Stitcher?"

"Yes and don't make me hit you again," she brandished the stick at him and he held up his hands in surrender.

Indes locked eyes with Soren, something sad and twinkling behind them.

"Goodbye, Soren" Thalla saluted at her as Indes joined the others.

"Goodbye, Thalla" Soren returned the salute and the girl jogged to join the others. Nerves and excitement pooled in the morning sunshine.

"Captain," Talos saluted her before following Thalla. Their goodbyes already said.

Soren climbed the tower and watched them go, until the last one disappeared into the treeline. She allowed herself a moment of intense yawning loneliness before she returned to the ship.

She had work to do.


	25. Chapter 25

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mind the rating change
> 
> I earn it  
💜💙💚❤DH

The feeling of being ill at ease took up residence in Talos' chest while the ship could still be glimpsed through the trees. He looked back often with the excuse he was watching out for the women of the Ulohmu but in reality he wanted to see the lithe leather clad body running towards their group.

He had hoped Indes would forbid Soren from staying behind. That she would intercede where he could not. Instead she had walked calmly away from Soren and left her watching from the door of the ship.

Now Indes walked at the head of the pack, her pace setting the rhythm of the group and no one dared walk faster than her. Even Giz trudged willingly in her shadow. Talos couldn't understand the unwavering loyalty.

Except her question still clung to him; what would make him happy?

Talos didn't know. The truth was taking Soren away from the Ulohmu would not make him happy. Not truly. He would only be changing one master for a faceless one. She would be beneath a different thumb. They would be separated by duty. He was not deluded that they would be allowed to stay together.

And he could not stay here, among these women. Not only did their actions endanger Skrull lives at every turn, something he could never forgive but he was a danger to them. The chip beneath his skin a constant threat of being found. Of Soren being put into danger.

And Soren. Would she make him happy? He didn't know. The truth was he didn't want happiness or comfort. Not without freedom for all of them. He was viscerally aware as they moved slowly through the Trillium jungle that being parted from her was not an option. The feeling of it already making him sick.

He did not know when she had become so tangled inside him but he suspected it had been happening in increments since they met. That it was too late to pluck her from his cells now. That she coated him between his tissues. As vital to the pumping of his heart as the pericardium.

Now everything ached.

He paused again to watch the procession pass him slowly by. Ala was fussing but Reema had a gaggle of women watching if she needed help. Thalla kept her eyes on Talos as she passed. He nodded his head at her before turning to watch the others. He was fine. Everything would be fine.

Everything had to be fine.

Bringing up the rear was the dark eyed woman, Dania. She was free of the heavy robes, her legs clad in thick trousers and her body beneath a layer of hide. Talos could see her hands glint. He fell into step with her and she watched him from the corner of her eye. She huffed slightly when the ground inclined but Talos didn't reach for her. She kept her eyes forward. Her focus on Indes more than any of the others.

"If I sense even a lick of pity, young man, I will kick you in the shin with the metal leg." Her voice was higher than he expected.

"None here. I am a man without pity," Talos answered her, his eyes forward. Except when he would glance backward.

They walked in silence for a while before Dania laughed at him.

"Do you think there are any slower than me?" She asked also glancing behind. "Or do you think she will change her mind?"

Talos rolled his shoulders beneath the weight of his pack.

"It isn't wise to keep your eyes only on what's in front of you," he coughed. Dania nodded as she walked with a slight kick in her step.

"Yes. Wisdom from the front lines," Dania said sagely. Talos bristled.

"Soren told me about you," he said gruffly. He kept pace with her easily.

"I doubt she told you everything," Dania said with a raised brow.

"She was worried about you seeing what's in my mind. That you would go there by force. That tells me everything I need to know about you."

Dania laughed but it was a sad sound. Hurt. Layered with understanding. An earned slight.

"It is not easy to be strong and vulnerable. Soren wants to keep everything inside. When she was little, Indes and I were always pulling her out of the tightest spaces."

"You have known her that long?"

"See I told you she hasn't told you everything. Soren is more our daughter than any other child of the Ulohmu. She was Indes and I's first shared love. It makes her special even if it is not fair."

"Indes is your mate, then?" Talos looked through the crowd for the flash of indigo. He had not considered the Ulohmu would have time for love with the havoc they wreaked.

"Yes."

The creaking of her limbs blended into the jungle sounds. Talos itched to help her.

"She doesn't walk beside you?"

Dania considered his words, her breathing a little heavy but her pace resilient.

"She reaches back with her heart. She knows I am safe."

Dania stumbled as a rock kicked loose. Talos was at her side in a flash, her reaching hand finding his arm.

"Or not so safe," Talos grinned at her as she righted herself.

"She knows where you are, too."

Silence stretched between them as they moved. Talos wanted to ask her so many things but was wary of falling into the trap of heartfelt rhetoric. His loyalty would not be won by sympathy.

"And she trusts me to be here?" Talos asked. He climbed up a jutting rock and reached down for Dania. He half pulled, half lifted her over the gunpowder sand that would erode the metal in her leg worse than flesh.

He should jog ahead to guide the others as they moved beyond the territory mapped by Veda. He didn't.

"She wants you here."

"To guard you."

Dania laughed at him again, "you are trying to seduce our daughter away, General. Did you think we would let her go without a fight?"

Talos felt cold. Dania was strong. Strong enough to worry Soren. Had she fooled him so easily?

"And how do you intend to fight me?"

Dania shook her head.

"Soren has been loved her whole life with us and before. Deeply, profoundly loved. That is not always easy. The weight of Indes' beliefs and trust made her old before her time. Don't let that fool you. She is principled and brave but she is also naive. She doesn't understand why she can't resist you."

Talos swallowed around the possessive feeling that spiked through him. Dania would be aware of the rawness her words created. He couldn't hide something so sudden. She was playing him with her words.

"She has done a decent job so far," Talos grumbled as he fell behind Dania's swaying steps. As if her power was limited by something as rudimentary as sight.

"No one who saw her plead your case to Indes would agree."

Talos paused behind her. He looked back. He wanted to return to the ship even more desperately than before. Something waited for him there. He couldn't describe the feeling of what pulled him back, it had the sweet edge of desire. Honed thin enough to slice through his defenses. A bayonnet at the end of the unknown. Something that was meant to be acted on. Something meant to be held onto as you charged forward.

"Beast," Thalla's shout broke through as she ran backward through the crowd like a fish upstream.

She caught up to him and Dania. She nodded her head quickly to Dania, she was out of breath.

"Yes, Stitcher?" Talos focused on the girl for a moment before his eyes darted ahead to look for trouble.

"Come see," Thalla took off again.

Talos glanced at Dania and she waved him off. "Go, go I will be fine."

Talos didn't know what he expected when he made it through the bodies that stalled and parted for him. It wasn't what greeted him.

A path had been made through the trees by something large and hulking. On either side they were pushed over and their trunks splintered. The path crossed their own, travelling perpendicular to them.

"What do you think it is?" Thalla asked in awe of the bulk of whatever would have pushed through the dense forest. "An animal?"

"I don't know," Talos answered her but his eyes had already scanned the mud. There were no foot prints. A ways down the crooked path Veda knelt, her body turned to look after it.

Talos joined her. She turned to him slightly her eyes looking past him to the others waiting higher up the path.

"What will we tell them?" She asked, her mouth barely moving.

"Tell them we don't know. Keep them moving to camp. The sooner we meet back at the ship the better." He kept his head bent so no one could see his mouth move. Veda looked down between their feet. The mud was splattered in a deep gouge. Powerful exhaust cutting the soil with burning fuel cells.

An all-terra cruiser.

A Kree scout vessel.

"Why do you think they are here?" Veda nodded as if Talos had something very different.

Talos moved his hand over the trunk of a tree that was not broken but sawn down by laser cutter.

"I am not sure. The Trill must not know they are planetside."

"They will soon, if they find what they are looking for."

The two fell into step together. Walking back to the tense group of Skrulls waiting above them on the higher ground. Talos clamped down on his apprehension. He hoped Veda was as skilled at deception as he was.

"What is it?" Indes asked as soon as they had climb back up the slope.

"Whatever it is, its long gone." Talos answered her not making eye contact.

Dania had made it through the crowd and without looking Indes reached her hand out to her. Her glinting metal hand gripped Indes' scarred one. Dania looked at Talos and he remembered Soren's words.

He looked her directly in the eye. If she somehow slipped through his defenses he was not aware.

He turned to cut to the front of the crowd once again when Dania's voice stopped him.

"Should someone call Soren. She is alone."

Talos felt his stomach drop below his knees. He kept walking as if he hadn't heard her.

"The system is still down. She said that will be the first thing she fixes," Tank answered.

Talos tried not to let the fear grip him. The path was not headed towards the ship. There was no reason to suspect they would find her. It clouded him anyway. The concern. The desire to turn back finding new peaks within him. As the emotion crystallized in his mind that was when he found the edges of her in the smoke. Dania had found a way in.

* * *

Soren was being lazy.

Soren was never lazy. Though right now she was laying on the curved top of the ship, wedged between the colourful bubbles. From the bottom of the chamber they looked small but among them they were big. Protruding rudely through the copper coloured alloy that plated the ship. A wonderful glinting reminder there was no air in space to cause drag.

Above her the sun moved across the sky, occasionally peaking through the low hanging storm clouds. Red, green and purple shaded Soren as the light passed through. She had tried to work once the others had gone but Talos was still too close.

She could feel him. She was distracted by his hesitation. His desire to come back. She kept answering the question he never asked with her own call. Come back. Come back to where I am.

As soon as he left the small needles of regret had started surfacing through the thick muscle of her heart. She should have kissed him. She should have given into what her body begged her to do. No matter how heart rending the memory ended up being at least she would have had it. She could have called on it in lonely nights and lived in what cold passion he offered. Now she risked never seeing him again.

She rolled on her side and looked at her face in the reflection of a wide red bubble. She breathed over it until it fogged up. She traced her finger through it writing on the momentary cloud. 'Come back'.

She knew she was bargaining with the universe now. He grew fainter the farther they travelled but she kept reaching for him with her heart. She wanted to be brave enough to demand answers from him. She wanted to be bold enough to let him touch her the way he wanted to. She wanted to be irresistible enough he would go mad with longing while they were apart. The same way she was now.

She wanted the same gnawing hunger in her body to live in his. She rolled away from her warped reflection. He said she was beautiful. It shouldn't matter but it did. She held her hand in front of her chest and moved her fingers between the tendons of her wrist. The way his tongue had moved. Not as warm. Not as devouring a sensation but the memory swam from her knees to low in her belly. Resting there and churning the mud like a white bellied catfish.

Gorgeous. Brilliant. Maybe a little fanatical. Even though they met with faces hidden he had seen her. She knew it. Her hands traced over her shirt remembering the small noise he made when he saw her skin. Like he had forgotten how to breathe. Her hand found the hem of her shirt and pushed it up enough to let one finger trace over her skin above her pants. He had blown across her skin and lit every nerve ending on fire. More churning. More heat. He had licked her too. He was too far but she reached for him anyway with the memory of his body beneath hers. The orgasm he had ground out of her. She could almost feel it. Pressure moving in her. Pressing something from deep within to the surface. Then the clenching emptiness of pleasure. The promise of so much more if only she reached for it.

Soren's hand paused as she traced back and forth. Something was wrong. She sat up and in front of her was the unbroken ocean of tree tops. She turned her eyes shaded from the sun as she tried to find the source of the distress.

She couldn't see anything. Guilt soaked her. She had wasted time trying to seduce back the man she had to push away. She half ran up the tilting ship towards the hatch. As she climbed higher above the trees she kept looking back to see if she could see the danger, anything but the motionless green.

She dropped down the hatch. She had to fix the comm system and find a way to get the Ibu-Ibu out of the muck.

* * *

They made camp near the stream again. Giz had stopped the party when they reached it and sent word back to where Talos was moving stragglers over a small ravine. They had breached it with a felled trunk. Thalla stood on one end encouraging them over and Talos was on the other reaching for hands and swinging them over the last hurdle.

"Giz says the front has reached the stream," Tank informed him as Talos shuffled down the log to reach for Dania. Tank moved to the end of the log and dug her feet in. Dania let go of Thalla's shoulder as Talos ducked his head beneath her stiffly bent arms. He shuffled backward as she shuffled forward.

"Good. Tell him we will camp there," Talos spoke over his shoulder. His hand blindly reached for Tank's steady shoulder as the other one stayed wrapped around Dania.

He stepped them off the log and Dania drew in a sharp breath.

"Less than a eight foot drop shouldn't be so terrifying," she said trying to bolster a smile.

Talos returned to pull Thalla over, "it's not the drop, its whatever horrible thing is at the bottom."

"True, this planet seems to be eating itself."

Tank took off towards the front as Talos kicked the log into the ravine. It made a wet splintering sound and the smell of digesting wood filtered upwards.

* * *

Camp was made quickly, so many hands used to working together. Talos was grateful the Ulohmu were used to close quarters. He could sleep them five to a tent and manage to lessen the load they had to carry. Dinner was run by Reema again. It seemed when there was no sick to be cared for she stepped in to organize the food. It was just as well Talos thought. He would not have known how to begin to feed more than himself.

Now the night had grown dark, the sky fading to almost maroon as the dust storm swirled overhead. Talos sat with his back against the log and his feet stretched out in front of him. At some point, Reema had deposited Ala onto his lap despite his protests. They slept now, curled up on his chest with their fist pressed close to their small flat nose. Talos kept a hand on their back and he felt their chests rise and fall in unison. It was as if a calm enveloped him and he wondered about the small child's future. Was this some manifestation of power? Would they be a healer like their parents?

With so many eyes about Talos let his gaze rest on the fire. The camp had gone mostly quiet except for the murmurs of Skrulls talking and the occasional splash from the stream. A dark shape moved beside him and with a groan Indes sat on the log.

"You look like a man with a lot on his mind," she said settling her elbows on her knees and holding her hands to the fire. Talos straightened slightly, trying not to shuffle Ala too much.

"Am I a man used to being alone," he answered not caring if he sounded sullen. Indes looked at where his hand soothed Ala's back.

"You don't look so alone."

"They don't talk much. Yet." He looked down his nose to contemplate the serene pudgy face pillowed against him. Indes reached out and ran a loving finger over their temple.

"There have been many children in the Ulohmu but it's rare to have one so young. She has been a gift in many ways to Reema and to all of us."

"You have had many children in your number then?" Talos asked he had seen Caira and Ala. A couple others avoided him but had the gangling frame of half grown children.

"We have. They don't all stay and that is fine. I want them to be where they find happiness."

"And yet you send your wife to intercede on your behalf."

Indes stiffened. She looked at Talos carefully through lowered lids. The firelight played across her features and each scar looked like a thread of marble.

"Soren fascinates you. She has fascinated men before," Talos felt a stab of jealousy. He thought soon that particular wound would be polished smooth with repeated stabbing. "Not that she has noticed. I will not lose her to someone who doesn't appreciate what she would be leaving for him."

"I can't stay here."

"No one has asked you to." Indes sat back and rubbed her palms across her thighs to stave off the cold. "At least not yet. Not when you can't answer what would make you happy."

"I can't," Talos turned his eyes back to the fire, letting the lids droop so the world became bending light and warmth. Ala was even heavier on his chest. As if they were an anchor holding him. He felt Indes shift beside him. "Will you be alright on the ground?"

"I will be fine. These old bones have survived much worse."

"Where is Thalla?" Talos felt uneasy knowing Giz and his passions lurked around the camp.

"Reema has taken the girls to the stream to bathe, hence your charge."

Talos' eyes snapped open, "and where is Giz?"

Indes laughed, its lightness surprised him. "Giz is in Reema's tent, under threat of death if he leaves before she returns."

"Good," Talos grunted as Indes straightened. She reached her hands out and Talos scooped up Ala and passed them awkwardly to the woman. She settled them expertly on her hip, as if she had done it one thousand times before.

"I will deliver Ala to him. I feel he and I are also due for a conversation."

Talos' chest was cold where Ala had been. He rubbed his hand there. It was strange how the body told him their absence was cold when really where they had slept was the only place he was warm. The backward mourning logic of the brain.

"Hey Big Guy, is this thing working?" A voice crackled from inside his coat. For one panicked moment he thought the Council was calling him. Except he knew that voice. He searched through the pockets until he found the small disc. "Are you still looking? There is a button in the middle, press it to talk."

"When did you plant this on me?" He growled pressing the button to speak. He could weep with relief.

"Did you forget you stole my jacket? You have my comm."

Talos turned the device in his hands taking in the small design. It was lightweight and the sound was good. He wondered if she built it.

"Are you still on the ship?"

"Yes."

"Is this channel encrypted?"

"Of course."

Talos looked around there was no one near enough to hear him. "Listen to me. You need to come to the ship. Abandon the Ibu-Ibu and meet us at the first campsite."

"You know I can't do that."

"Soren. There are Kree scouting Trillium."

The line went quiet. Talos could close his eyes and picture the calculating look on her face.

"Then I need to be here."

Talos got up from the fire and began pacing. His eyes keeping an eye out for the others.

"Soren," he could hear the pleading in his voice.

"I will get the cloaking operational. If I run the life supports low enough the ship should be able to maintain the shield until I figure out a way to get her out."

"You are in a sulfur swamp. Running the life supports too low for too long is going to cause a gas back up. You will suffocate."

"I could manage for three days maybe four-"

"I won't let you do this," he growled into the small disc. It was pressed almost to his mouth as he whispered harshly down the line.

There was silence on the other end. He thought for a moment she had hung up on him.

When her voice came back to him it was different. He couldn't say what exactly changed but it was like he was hearing her with new ears.

Soren was beneath the console on her back. She had crawled beneath to reset the systems for the comm. The computer could pick up her voice anywhere in the cabin. And when Talos answered his voice vibrated in the console above her. Small trembles in the metal that buzzed her bones.

She had been so happy to hear his voice. Relieved he had answered. Now he was once again try to pull her away. If he wanted her to abandon the ship she had spent ten years maintaining and improving to sink into the mud or be claimed by the Kree he better make her a damn good offer.

She didn't know where the boldness came from, maybe the distance or being deep in a computer panel where she felt safe and powerful.

"And how are you going to stop me, Talos?" She murmured to him, trying to drench her voice in invitation.

There was silence for a moment and her heart stopped. She felt the embarrassment creeping up from her toes until above her his voice rumbled.

"You think I won't come get you tonight?" She could hear him moving, his voice filtering around steps. She breathed out.

Talos felt a tingle at the base of his neck. Soren. Unpredictable Soren. She wanted to purr at him over the comm he could play her game. He moved away from the fire seeking privacy and darkness.

"And what happens when you get here?"

He grunted. He needed to be farther. Where the empaths and the eavesdroppers couldn't find him. Fading in the distance was the sound of the bathers in the stream.

"Haven't I made my intentions clear?"

A tree rose in front of him, slanted and with a large trunk. He tucked the comm between his teeth and pulled himself higher. Her voice rattled inside his mouth and against his tongue as he climbed.

"Clear to who? All I remember is arguing politics."

He settled back in the tree.

"That's not what I remember," he spoke low so his voice would not carry. "Do you know what I remember?"

"What?" Soren sounded breathless.

"I remember how good you feel when you are close." Talos leaned back against the hard bark and closed his eyes. He could remember with perfect clarity the round shape of her lips as she panted around a suprised sound. The way her knees had clenched into the thick muscle of his thigh.

"Do you think you could feel me now?" She asked in a hush whisper. Talos swallowed.

"What do you mean?" He was outside. There should be air here.

"I am not alone very often so I haven't had much practice."

He shouldn't have climbed a tree. If he passed out his injuries could be life threatening. All his blood rushed down until he was heavy between his thighs.

Talos' groan echoed above her. She should feel embarrassed but it made her feel strong when he sounded like he hung on her every word.

"Tell me how I can help," His words were barely more than a gasp.

"I want to know if you can feel me from so far away," she answered him. She had discarded her tools, her head pillowed on her jacket she bent her knees. As her hands drifted down her body she thought of Talos. She reached to him, tried to imagine him.

"How do we test that theory?" What he felt in that moment was shaking unbridled lust. He tried to push it away. To focus on Soren.

"Tell me where to touch first," her heart was pounding. The blood pumping through her too fast to allow shame to settle on the shores of her body.

"Where I would touch you?" Talos breathed. Soren hummed her response. How could he answer when it would be everywhere. The second he saw her he would fall on her and inspect every inch. "Your ear."

"My what?" She laughed listening to his instruction above her. The deep melody of his voice.

"Your ear," he repeated patiently. "Trace it with one finger. I like the shape of it."

Soren obliged thinking of the taper of her ear, the sensation on the edge of the shell making her blood tremble and flutter inside. She thought of Talos. And how he would press his mouth over her pulse point. Of smoothing her thumbs over the curve of him as he licked hard into her throat. The delicate cartilage and soft skin sensitive under her fingers.

"Tell me everything. Tell me everything you would do without stopping. I will do anything," she begged. Her voice settling over Talos. She was so eager and impatient. He wanted to picture her. He wanted to know exactly what she was doing.

"Tell me where you are first, my sweet. I want to picture it."

"Flight cabin," Soren reached above her fingers tracing the panels of the console that rumbled with his voice. "Wedged beneath the console."

Talos chuckled his one hand tracing just above himself. "Little Soren and her tight spaces."

"Can you picture me?"

"Perfectly," he tried to remember the exact feeling of her across his thigh. To render it in complete detail. "Next I would trail my fingers over your jaw and that wonderful mouth of yours. Brush my thumb over your lips. Would you lick me if I pressed against them? Suck me?"

She hummed over the channel between them a lush needy sound. Talos hoped she had dipped a finger into her hot mouth and laved her tongue over it. He had dreams of the pleasure to be had beyond her lips.

"You go so slow," she whimpered. Her other hand traced the skin above her waistband.

"Of course, I am going to enjoy every inch of you."

"Talos," she sobbed.

"I suppose we have all night for discovery. If you were this eager I would kneel in front of you, and divest you of anything in my way."

"In the way of what?" She swallowed heavy. She bit into the flesh of her finger as she conjured the picture of Talos kneeling before her his hands opening her buttons as her hand did now. Cool cabin air touched her flush skin.

"Don't you know, Soren, how good you smell to eat? Suck two of those clever fingers for me, get them hot and wet. We are going to pretend they are my tongue. Understand?"

She hummed again this time the sound was stretched around the fingers in her mouth. He growled and the need grew one hundred fold. He ground his hand above the ridge of him. He was straining, desperate but he had to focus on her.

"Do you know what I am going to do?" Talos' voice echoed above her as she traced hot wet fingers between her legs. She could only answer him with small needy sounds. She knew this part. She knew where to touch, how to move her fingers so she could reach completion quickly. She imagined it was his mouth pushing her open. She reached across distance for him.

Talos could resist no longer when golden moans came through the comm to him. He held the speaker against his chest. Muffling the sounds that poured out of her like water. He could feel them against his skin. He took himself in hand. Roughly, desperately. The way he would if it was his mouth pulling those sounds from her lungs.

Something grew warm in Soren as her fingers moved. An unfamiliar weight moving with her hand. She focussed on it. She tried to pull it even closer. Talos had gone silent but she could feel him. She knew he was listening. She let the emotions flood from her. No one was near to suspect her. She felt the build up to orgasm glimmer against her skin. She chased it, sobbed for it. The comm came to life above her again.

"You are so good, Soren. I want you like this all night. Stay all night with me, darling."

She gasped as her body convulsed around his words. A dry harsh sucking of air as her pulse fluttered beneath her fingers. She felt awash in golden heat pooling in the dip of her stomach. Talos grunted, his breath heavy.

"I think it is safe to say I can feel you," he muttered. Soren laughed, her skin cooling.

"A ground breaking discovery," she smiled. If only he was there to hold her.

"You'll never be safe from me now."

"Sleep Talos. I have work to do."

"Anything you say, Captain."

She closed the channel and Talos was alone in the quiet of the night. The sweltering air cooling quickly in the dark.

"General, your erratic heartbeat is back. Turn on your comm and we will extract you."

The voice of the Council shocked him from his stupor. He groaned. He felt caught, his clothes in disarray. His dignity waited for him by the stream.

"No. There is nothing wrong. Don't contact me this way. You're killing the mood."

"Should we assume this is related to the asset?"

"Yes," Talos tried to right himself.

"Check in is in three days. Do not over exert yourself."

The line went dead. He had three days to decide what he would do.


	26. Chapter 26

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this with a migraine so it's a little rough. Please forgive me 💜💚💙❤DH

Once Soren left Talos felt the cold and the loneliness descend. He forgot when her voice was drifting over him but the silence afterwards ached. He found the stream as it meandered through the trees. He cleaned up there and tried to hold on to the feeling of her. He crouched inside others for long periods but had no words for the feeling of fullness that settled over him as her voice filtered over the comm. The undeniable discomfort of being known. He knew she would look boldly at all of him; his scars, his triumphs, his failings. He craved it as deeply as he feared it. His eyes glanced behind him through the trees. He could make it to her before dawn.

'Then what?' That was the question he must answer. What would come next once he reached her? He knew what would happen if he went to her now. Upon re-entering the Ibu-Ibu he could picture taking her wherever he found her. He could elapse three days easily in the pursuit and service of pleasure. It had been so long, his only companion his imagination, that he could easily fill time that way. Then what?

Then the Council called for him again? Then they activated his tracker? Then he gave her to them and their separation began. Soren was returned to her people but their dalliance was at an end. Talos would be sent somewhere to be alone again. Alone and useful.

Or did he stay and the Council still came but this time he would be imprisoned as a defector? Or killed with the Ulohmu? Maybe the children spared if they stopped long enough to ask after their number.

And at what age did innocence stop? Was Thalla too old for their mercy?

The questions plagued him even as he returned to the fire. Confronted with others he could no longer hide in the solace of service in isolation. He was forced against his will to look at the long reaches his actions had. What had been the result of his work so far? Did he know what the Council did with the information he gathered? Did he want to know?

There was no comfort to be had in war, even among his own kind. They were painted as enemies but he could not see his own actions unstained.

The night passed in the fog of the unknown. He sat cold before the fire. Veda came for him in the middle of the night but he would not be moved into a tent. The vulnerability of sleep, crushed against those he feared to know, made leaving impossible.

"Suit yourself," she said tight lipped, sitting on the log.

Talos hunkered under his coat. He hoped Soren was warm. His eyes grew heavy knowing Veda was there. He tried to keep them open but it was useless. He let his head hang back. He let his mind wander to Soren's ship. Her small loft there above the cabin. They could curl up and make a nest among the sheets. He could almost feel the softness of it.

"We don't need you," Veda's voice roused him.

"Is that so?" Talos asked. His head fell forward.

"They're testing you." Veda stabbed the fire causing glittering embers to fly upwards.

"Who is?"

"Indes and Dania. They want to see what you will do."

"And how am I doing?" Talos grumbled into his coat. Veda grunted.

Talos considered her words. She was callous on the outside but he understood the hard shell of survival. If she had come from the Skrullos army as he suspected then she would have learned to speak her meaning harshly and quickly. What she meant was they didn't need him in order to return to the ship. He was as unnecessary to the process as a spare limb.

He already knew they were testing his willingness to protect all of them. They wanted to know if he only cared for Soren or if he had honour in him.

"So, how is that different from what you are doing now?" He asked regarding her from the corner of his eye. Her face was stoic, her profile jagged in the firelight. She was tempting him. Telling him he could leave now and never turn back. Capture Soren while she was alone and vulnerable. Take her as a thief would, in the night.

"I know the look in a man's eyes when he wants to run. You had it at the tracks."

"Running to something is not the same as running from it," he growled at her, his eyes on the coals.

"You would run to her then?"

"She would never forgive me for leaving you to fend for yourselves."

"So she is the only thing keeping your honour?"

Talos didn't answer her. He was beginning to question why he did anything. He stood and walked around the fire. He was restless. And tired.

"What of your honour? You think I don't recognize our People's Army in you? Where was your honour when you deserted?"

Veda had the gall to laugh at him.

"Did you serve? I look at you and do you know what I see?"

"What?" Talos spat the word at her as he paced.

"I see a boy with connections. I see someone who was taken from his powerful parents' side and hidden in service. Someone kept safe behind someone else's face."

Talos paused and looked at her. She wasn't wrong. He had only ever been a spy. His boots had never marched beside his brethern once he left the Academy. Veda laughed again.

"I am right, aren't I?"

"You think the Council made me a spy as a favour to my dead parents?" He growled. "You think it is comforting to live in isolation?"

"I think it is misleading. You think you can compare our choices. You can't."

He sat again. Away from her, his eyes on her boots through the fire. He heard in his head the echo of Soren's words. Would it kill him to serve what he loved? What did he love? He knew what he desired. Who he desired. Did he love his loneliness most of all? Had he been guarding it even as it isolated him?

He didn't. He hated it. He despised it but it filled the vacuum his parents' death had left. Perhaps it had been the last act of love they could give him? Maybe he had outgrown that love?

The silence stretched between them, a dull empty silence. He could not hate Veda for her challenge, he had been blatant and single-minded in his machinations.

"What do you know of Trillium?" He asked at last because she was the only one he could speak with on the subject. The one who shared the burden of not telling the others the Kree were on planet.

"Almost nothing," she shrugged. "Other than it stinks and the wildlife is unpleasant. Why?"

"I am trying to decide why the Kree would be here," he stretched out his legs. The sky too dusted with storms to allow him to see the stars. "Why risk the landing?"

"Maybe the same reason Indes is here," Veda stretched. She slipped down the log so her back was against it.

"And why is that?" Talos' curiousity piqued.

"The Mothers Circle is not privy to everything," Veda gave him a look that invited no further questions.

"You can tell me. We-"

Veda threw a log in the fire. The light briefly flared between them. "I know you weren't about to invoke our shared past. We've already established we have no common ground."

"I will ask Indes then," he muttered. The quick surge of heat reminded him how cold he was.

"You will have to tell her about the Kree. It will be the only way to get the answer out of her."

"How can you survive just blindly trusting one leader?"

"You trust the Council."

"There are many Elders in the Council."

"They speak with one voice. They make one decision. We don't always have the luxury of debate."

"Is there a limit to what she could ask and you would obey?"

Veda's eyes looked to the fire. Talos did not warn her of night blindness. She knew and for a moment she chose not to see.

"Not one I have found. Not one I can imagine."

"Would you kill?"

"I killed for Skrullos," she lifted her eyes to look at him. He knew she would only see a haze of light but he could see her eyes glow with the fire.

"You left Skrullos."

"I am still what they made me. I am still myself. I cannot be different. Indes has the benefit of Dania's sight. She has her own experience. She would not take any decision lightly. I bow to her expertise."

"Then not all of the Ulohmu have abilities?"

"That is natural. I am not less."

"I have never seen abilities like this before. It feels unnatural."

"They were once more common. We stamped them out ourselves."

"When?"

"When the war started," she let her head hang back. Her voice became low and soft as if she was pulling something ancient from deep inside. "And so the lower path was taken. Beneath the silt and sand of ancient bone, bored narrow out from the constant watcher's oak, Did we pull the fractious nightmare of our difference. And bury as one beneath our ancestral mound what would only burn to keep."

Talos grunted at the stanza. Most of Skrullos' history was as opaque as mud to him. He raised his brow at her. "That simple?"

She looked away slightly embarrassed. "Dek was a Keeper before he joined us. He can explain it best."

Talos was taken aback. Historians were rare. The Council kept them safeguarded. It must have been a catastrophe that had brought him to the Ulohmu. A tragedy large enough the Council assumed it was impossible he had survived.

"How did a Keeper end up among you?"

"You would have to ask him," Veda's voice was cold. "We only tell our own stories."

The silence stuck this time.

* * *

Soren banged her head when she sat up from beneath the console. The sound echoed dully in the cabin. She had moved too quickly, feeling claustrophobic as the silence settled in. She had said goodnight to him but she felt him close against her skin. Beyond the haven she had created the ship was dark. She needed to focus. She needed to ensure the cloaking still worked if Kree were on planet. She looked around the darkened cockpit and felt the uneasiness spread. She had grown accustomed to being surrounded by other Skrulls. The loneliness bore down on her harder than it had on Cairn.

Cairn had been different and she could barely acknowledge why. Not when Talos was pressing on her heart. There had been some kindness there, amongst the apathy. She was used to disappearing, fading into the background but he had seen her. She wondered selfishly if he missed her. She didn't know what the fallout of her actions at Aloma had been. She hoped he was safe. That he had not been mixed up in the ugliness with Woh-Lar. She felt sick and jittery as she straightened.

She was hypocritical for falling so easily in with Talos. She thought that perhaps she owed Enzo something more. Something to prove she had not used him. She wished in a perverse way that there had been more time before she had to run from Aloma. That she could have gone to him and explained that he had never known Emerys. That she was kinder than Soren. She was brave too. Her mind open and loving. That she was not the highbrow Kree Soren had pretended to be to keep him at arm's length. She wished she could have asked for his help and taken his form. Kept him a little longer, shown him some piece of herself. She shut out the guilt. It was useless to dwell on what she could not change. She could not shake what she felt for Talos no more than she could return to Cairn and explain everything to Enzo.

She turned her focus to the console. She activated cloaking. She heard the drive whine and struggle. She lowered the life systems a fraction. She tried to find the balance between the drive working but the sulfur being vented. The drive still whined as the heat in the cabin rose slowly. It tasted thick in her mouth. Soren could not imagine why Indes had chosen this place.


	27. Chapter 27

Dawn on Trillium was greeted by violent red swathes reaching like hands across purple cloud. The cold of the night evaporating in the slowly climbing heat of the day, so death and decay floated from the rock crevices. It was a brutally beautiful place.

Around Talos the camp began to stir, Skrulls popping from the tents one after another like beetles from the long grass. He could not quite wrap his head around the score of them. It had been so long since he had seen his people's natural faces. Including his own.

Reema bustled to the fire Talos had begun building up at dawn. The coals now hot and glowing. Reema hummed in approval as Veda stretched awake. She did not acknowledge Talos or the guard he had kept in her place. She took her gun and the pot for water and headed down to the stream.

"I like a useful man," Reema smiled knowingly at him. She had a voice not like gravel but like seeds. Rough but smooth. She felt like a place one could grow from. Talos remembered her wiping flour from Soren's cheek. He wanted to hear her stories. He wanted any small piece of the woman consuming him that he could pull from the mothers surrounding him.

"Well if you can't be handsome," Talos smiled and stood. He was stiff and the fire barely softened his muscles. Reema tutted.

"You have stolen plenty of hearts around here," she crooned at him. Veda returned with the water and Talos blushed looking at his feet. He hoped the guardian hadn't heard. He took the heavy pot from her and set it on the coals. "Don't believe me? You should have heard them by the water last night. Every last one wishes they were Soren."

Talos wished the soil of Trillium would open up and digest him. He coughed and sat down. He held his hands by the fire. He knew Reema's twinkling eye caught his embarassment as she moved the food around.

"Shy too. Deep down." She nodded knowingly. Talos smiled at her, leaning forward.

"Soon they will forget about me," he checked the water that was barely warmed.

"Maybe, that's the way of young people. Their hearts are more elastic than ours. Like bread. Dough can be anything but once you put in the fire it can only be what comes out again. You've chosen well. Soren will make you a good heart."

Talos scoffed, "I feel you are ahead of us."

"Then we all know something you don't." Reema laughed her loud infectious laugh and Talos smiled. Thalla came over with Ala on one hip and a stack of bowls on the other.

"Take my burden, Beast" she commanded. She was enjoying her game and it made him smile as he shifted the bowls from her hip.

"How did you get, Ala? I left them with Giz." Reema lifted the lid of the pot and began to empty grains inside.

Thalla rescued her ear from Ala's grip. "He said he needed to go."

"Go where?" There was misleading lightness in Reema's tone as she stirred the pot. Talos could hear the razor thin edge of concern in her voice.

"He didn't say," Thalla shrugged and hefted Ala higher on her hip.

"I am going to take a walk," Talos announced catching Reema's eye.

"Breakfast won't be long. Don't dwaddle."

"I won't."

Talos walked through the brush a ways. He could see clearly the trail the boy had taken by the marks his boots left and the branches broken in his wake. Talos moved as quietly as he could through the woods, his ears pricked for sounds. He tried not to curse the boy under his breath. Soren was constantly pleading for him, he must be worthy of some loyalty that Talos just couldn't see.

He thought of the pain of losing a parent, Talos had been younger when his parents died. Perhaps Reema was right about elastic hearts. Healing had been different for him. Or had the suddeness of the loss propelled him from the grief? Forced him to continue forward when Giz had been mired in a slow death?

Talos heard the crack of blaster bolts. Quiet like the breaking of paper thin ice. He pressed his back to the nearest tree and peered around the trunk. He could see the blue glow a few metres up the path.

He didn't hear any sounds or smell the sizzle of flesh. He crept forward again. Giz came into view, he held the blaster with one hand, his eye dramatically closed. He looked like a drawing from an adventure Holonovel. He fired and the shot went wide. He opened his eye and seeing the rock pile untoppled snarled his lip.

"Most people use two eyes to see things," Talos called out from the tree line. Giz flinched and turned to the direction Talos' voice came from.

"Who asked you?" Giz called back bringing the blaster up once again.

Talos curled his lip, showing his teeth. "Boy, this is the third time you have held a blaster on me-"

"And no Soren to protect you," Giz mocked him. Talos growled. A small dent appeared between Giz' brow. A softening. His nerves showing.

"No. No Soren to protect you." Talos clarified stalking towards the boy. Giz closed one eye, his hand clenching the blaster harder.

"I will shoot."

"Keep aiming like that, Boy, and you will never hit me." Talos stalked closer to him. The air wreaked of ozone as Giz fired a shot. It blazed wide past Talos and struck a tree trunk. Giz's hands shook harder. Talos reached him and grabbed his wrist. He twisted and deposited the blaster neatly into his other hand. Giz gave it easily his wrist had no resistance.

In a swift practiced motion, Talos charged the blaster while Giz backed away. He gripped it in two hands, swung left and fired. The rock tower crumbled. Giz breathed out.

"Two eyes," Talos repeated powering down the weapon and pressing it back into Giz's chest. "They should never have given you a weapon without training."

"They didn't," Giz answered quietly.

Talos paused. "Then how did you get that one?"

"It's Pa's."

Talos looked at the boy seriously. He saw now the way he looked at the blaster. The energy that peeled off of him as Talos had held it.

"Then you should learn to respect it." He turned his back in the boy to return to camp. He stopped for a moment, barely looking over his shoulder. "Reema wants you back for breakfast. She hasn't earned the worry."

Giz was silent for a moment. Talos could feel Giz's eyes on his back but they had no heat. No threat.

"Will you show me?" He asked his voice cracking at the implication of his request. Admitting Talos' had bested him.

Talos paused in his walk, he rolled his eyes heavenward and said a prayer to the old gods that Soren appreciated his efforts at peace.

"Never point it at me again and I will consider it."

Talos emerged from the woods with Giz following a few paces behind. Reema looked up from the fire where she stirred breakfast, spooning portions into the bowls held by the crowding Skrulls. Talos nodded slightly to her and she smiled as Giz emerged. He hung back and let Giz slouch past. Talos searched for Thalla and saw her sitting with Ala on her knee on the log by the fire.

"Have you eaten yet?" Talos asked as he got closer. Thalla looked over and smiled at him.

"Not yet," she glanced down at the bowl balanced between her boots.

Talos stepped over the log and took Ala from her. "Eat."

She nodded her head uncertainly at him and scurried off with her bowl.

"Do you think you don't have to eat?" Reema asked pointing the sticky spoon at him.

"Prisoners eat last," he answered her.

"Prisoners and cooks" she replied. The Skrulls had dispersed to eat. She filled the last two bowls and joined him on the log. She passed him the bowl and he took it awkwardly around Ala.

They ate in silence for a moment. Talos holding the bowl in one hand so Ala reached into it every so often. He would gently knock their hand away with his spoon. Sometimes some porridge would stick to their chubby fists and they would happily stick them in their mouth.

"Thank you," Reema said at last. Her voice damp around the edges. She poured a little water from a kettle into her bowl. She scraped and mashed the sides of her dish to make a soupy slush that smelled of wheat. Talos kept his eyes in the middle distance but angled his lap so she could better reach Ala.

He watched her spoon it into Ala's open heart-shaped mouth. A little dribbled down their chin and Reema wiped it away.

"I have neglected him," she admitted softly. Her eyes shone a little. Talos abandoned his own bowl. He held Ala better so they could lean hungrily towards Reema's spoon.

"It's not easy to split yourself so many ways. The boy will see that when he is older."

"I worry he won't make it that long. He is too much like his father," her voice creaked. Talos felt a deep winding in his gut. He was unprepared for emotion. He had been allowed so little of it since Zendinar. Ala sensed the sadness and guilt pouring from their mother and began to fuss. Reema reached for them.

Being an interloper burned more than he could bear. Talos turned Ala so they were craddled against him, their head resting over his shoulder.

Reema rocked back again. Like the pressure of stewing grain he felt the heaving growing strain on Reema's heart. "He was so brave you know. And kind. And important."

Tears slipped down the curves of her cheeks. Talos thought how it must have pained her to see the illness grow in her mate. Knowing in a different world, in a different skin he could be taken to Herkarsis. That there could have been hope instead of a quiet death aboard _the Ibu-Ibu_. Talos kept his eyes on the treeline just behind her shoulder. Reaching for her with the rusted pieces of his empathy.

Talos coughed. "The boy has his father's blaster."

Reema blanched. She moved her mouth soundless, her head turning looking for her son.

"I could teach him. If you wanted," Talos coughed again. "Since his father didn't have the chance."

Reema surged forward, scraping against the log. She wrapped her arms around his neck making wet coughing sounds. Ala was pressed between their bodies and made protesting gurgles. Talos went rigid and Reema released him quickly wiping in her eyes.

"It will be better. If he has stolen it once he will keep taking it."

"We don't have the luxury of innocence," Talos agreed passing Ala to their mother. They needed to tear down camp and he needed to breathe air that did not make his eyes sting.

* * *

The air in _the Ibu-Ibu_ was unpleasant. Soren was exhausted. She was giddy with failure, it stretched along her muscles and clung to the walls of her lungs. She was dizzy with it. Nothing was working.

She could not think of how to unstick the ship. Engaging back thrusters only burnt fuel and rattled the hull deeper into the muck. The swamp so gaseous and vile the paint and seals could be compromised. Even if they could get it out of the muck it might not survive a trip through the atmosphere.

Soren allowed one small chamber of her heart to begin mourning the ship. She hated how she could feel her hope waxing and waning with every small defeat or triumph. She thunked her head on the kitchen counter where she lay with her boots in the empty sink. She couldn't risk going outside if the Kree were around so she was resting beneath the kitchen exhaust.

It was not part of the life systems. She had rigged the fan to by-pass the central system and wired it directly to a solar panel she had propped beyond the vent. It barely pulled power beneath the heavy storm cover but it was a small relief from the fumes.

She didn't know what time it was. She had worked through the night. She reached into her pocket. She had long since stripped away her jacket in the rising heat of the ship. Her pants probably wouldn't survive the heat of the day. She turned the comm she carried nimbly around between her fingers. She itched to call him but part of her still burned with embarrassed passion for what had passed between them. She breathed in deep trying to block out the sulfur stench. She steeled herself, exhaling hard.

"Hey Big Guy," she spoke low into the comm pressing the button and holding it just above her lips. She waited. Her heart traveled up her esophagus as the seconds ticked by.

"You owe me, Captain." His voice finally came crackling back. She could breathe, her heart sunk down into the warmth of her chest again.

"What for?" She laughed. She could hear his frustration. The mothers were probably giving him a run for his money.

"You know what for," he growled lowly.

"What are you doing right now?" She asked with a small sigh in her voice. She ran her fingers along the hem of her shirt.

"A little bold making this type of call in broad daylight," Talos teased back. His voice already flooding her with warm memories from the night before.

"You know that isn't why I am calling," she groaned.

"I can hope."

"Is that all you think about?"

"Currently? Yes."

His voice was tight and close to the comm. She wondered what he was doing. She could here the small rustle of movement they must be already traveling toward her small ship.

"Then are you coming back for me?" She was desperate for him to answer. She rested the comm against her lips like a kiss and held her breath.

"In two days, I am returning to the ship," his voice was a wine red growl that lit up the nerves along her spine. "When I do, you and I are going to negotiate."

Soren's tongue moved uselessly against the words of desire that bubbled into her mouth. Her voice was hoarse around them. "Will we?"

"Yes," Talos hissed. "I am a General in the Skrullos army reduced to playing nursemaid. You will owe me, Little Soren."

"And what will I owe you?" She half laughed, half rasped. Her hand flattened on her stomach and she wondered if he could feel the way her body reached for him.

"Everything," he answered her like a trap snapping.

She sat up, her tired body alive with intention again. She would need to push _the Ibu-Ibu_ as far as she could if she wanted to emerge the victor when he returned. She would need a chip to bargain with.

"I will see you then, Talos." She closed the comm before he could answer and hopped off the counter. There was always more work to do.


	28. Chapter 28

Soren ended the call. The fleeting heat that had risen in Talos' chest at her voice settled low in his stomach. He had paused in his walking to gain a little privacy. He knew there would be no repeat performance of the night before but he was still greedy for her. He didn't want of the mothers hearing her voice and demanding to talk to her. He didn't want Dania using her as a backdoor into his thoughts.

Giz was hovering near him. The boy had been skirting the edges of Talos' vision since they returned from the trees.

"Are you a fly, boy?" Talos grunted as he tucked the comm back into his jacket. Giz stiffened a little but seemed to swallow whatever insult came to his tongue. Talos raised his brow. Maybe the whelp had discipline in him after all.

Talos walked and the boy hustled to keep up. Talos kept an even pace his eyes on Dania who pulled up the rear. At the front, Thalla led them with the scanner held high. Indes was in quiet step beside her.

"You have a way to talk to Soren," Giz prodded him.

"She has a way to talk to me. There is a difference," Talos answered him. No matter what angle he looked at the comm from he could find no way to specify where it called to. He would need Soren to describe how it worked. Until then he was on tenterhooks waiting for her call.

"Why do you let her lead you around?"

Talos looked over at the boy. He tried to remember if he had been this way when he was Giz's age.

"I don't know what you mean," Talos took heavy trudging steps over the stone.

"You are bigger and stronger. She should listen to you."

"You will learn, boy," Talos corrected with a razor's edge to his voice. "Once you've been in a real fight that speed means more than size and brains beat strength. And you will learn once you have been in many fights what should and should not be a battle."

Giz continued to push and Talos wondered where this was all going.

"You want her to be your woman."

Talos stopped. He felt the boy, who had been on his heels, nearly collide with him. Clarity winded him. Giz didn't refer to Hoban and Talos immediately falling in line with the Captain's orders. Something in Talos snarled but he stepped on its head. He needed to be clear as crystal in his next words.

"That is never about who is stronger."

Talos' eyes scanned the flood of women he walked through the jungle. He thought of Reema's words that she had neglected the boy. He had wanted to absolve her but he burned in that moment to know how such a knot had formed inside a boy who grew up among women.

"I have seen what you feel," Giz protested. "You want her to submit."

Talos turned on the boy. His lip curled and he took a step closer. Giz did not back down.

"Not to that," Talos growled. He felt invaded. He felt his private self had been dissected backwards if that was the conclusion the boy had drawn from his mind. "Whatever you thought you saw you have no way of understanding."

Talos turned away from him, disgusted at the boy and at himself that his feelings could be so misunderstood. He picked up the pace but the fly would not be shaken.

"Are you saying no woman would have me?" Giz's voice dripped venom and betrayal but beneath it was the edge of fear. Talos could understand the youthful fear you would never be given love. He had crushed the desire for it when his mother had died by it.

"Don't get ahead of yourself," Talos growled as he kept moving towards the ship. The sooner they reached it the faster he could return to Soren.

"Why is it getting ahead? I am a man now," Giz stomped after him. They were apparently going to broach the subject whether Talos wanted to or not. He scoffed.

"What makes you a man?"

"I will be eighteen soon."

Talos nodded exaggeratedly, "is that the measure of a man, then?"

He remembered turning eighteen and leaving training. If only he could shake the whelp he was then. He looked at Giz from the corner of his eye. He could shake this whelp. Especially as he foolishly kept hovering close by.

"Soon Indes will give me my own mission then I will get out of here."

"And what mission will she give you?" Talos' voice was staccato with the effort of walking up the rocky path. They must be getting closer to the cliff they had sheltered in. Giz's eyes looked at Talos suspiciously.

"I won't tell you. You're a spy. And a prisoner." Giz threw the words at him righteously. Talos only shrugged.

"That's fine, boy. I will ask her myself."

"You think she will tell you?" Giz laughed at him. "You think you are king but you are no one here."

Talos didn't give him an answer. The boy yearned for it. The desire to continue the argument, to feel superior, poured off him in sticky waves. The urge to argue with him clung to Talos.

The boy watched him as they walked, glancing over every so often with something bright burning in his eyes. Talos kept his gaze forward. He watched them all. He watched for weariness in Reema, for discomfort in Dania, for distress in Thalla. He even watched Indes. The woman seemed made of clockwork. She never tired, never faltered. It made him uneasy.

Thalla paused and turned her eyes searching for Talos. He caught her eye and she smiled. She held up her hand to show five fingers stretched wide. They were five leagues off. They would reach the ship before sundown. That was good. He only had to manage to not murder Giz before then. Talos held up his fist in response. She nodded turning to speak to Indes.

"What are we doing?" Giz asked as they met the group clustering around the leaders.

"The king wants lunch," Talos shrugged as he moved towards Indes and Thalla.

"Beast, you are too slow," Thalla chastized him as they neared. Giz's eyes were burning into the back of Talos' skull.

"Soren called him," Giz said with an edge of accusation. Talos rolled his eyes heavenward. Would he never know peace again?

"Soren fixed the comm?" Thalla asked with her eyes wide. She swatted at Talos. "Why is she calling you? She put me in charge."

"She gave me a message for you," Talos grinned. Thalla's eyes lit up with joy. Talos could see the admiration the girl held for Soren. A desperately desired older sister.

"Really?"

Indes looked at him carefully, her eyes darting behind him. The way they softened told Talos Dania approached.

"Yes, she said 'Thalla is too small too be in charge.'"

Thalla bumped into him with her fists, laughing at his teasing.

"No she didn't," Thalla protested.

On a whim, caught up in her baldfaced exuberance Talos scooped her up. Thalla half snorted, half giggled as his shoulder pressed into her scrawny middle.

"If you are carrying people, start with an old lady," Tank called out from an eddy of younger Skrulls.

Thalla beat his back with her fist. The scanner clattering against his shoulder. "Yes carry Tank first. she is almost as slow as you."

"Drop her, General," Tank shouted back as Talos tipped Thalla back to the ground.

"Do you want the whole planet to know we are here?" Giz grouched as he pushed past Talos away from the swell of women.

Talos knew he should go after him. Soren would. Or would want to. More accurately, she would plead with him to make peace. Talos watched where the boy went.

"We will rest for a little bit. Current pace we will reach the others before nightfall."

"If we are close isn't it better to keep pushing?" Thalla looked at the scanner. They were nearing her brother. Thwane would be meeting the rest of her family. She was eager.

"We don't all have boundless energy, Thalla." Indes put a caring hand on the girl's shoulder. "Take pity on our old bones."

Thalla looked to Talos.

"We won't rest long. You will be back the your brother before night," Talos assured her.

"How long will you stay before you go back for Soren?" Thalla's eyes were wide. Partings weighed heavily on her. Family always interrupted. Talos opened his mouth to answer but Indes cut him off.

"He won't go til morning. He needs to rest."

Talos closed his mouth, the urge to disagree with her heavy on his tongue. He would turn around immediately. He would run back to her if he had to. Except he knew she was right. He needed to rest. She had survived twenty years without him. It was a foolish fancy of his that she needed him now. He just wanted her to.

* * *

Giz avoided him after lunch and for the rest of the hike. Talos thought he would be relieved but it was akin to knowing a venomous snake was in the river. Not seeing it was more unnerving than having it swim around you.

He stayed to the back, at times he took Dania's arm but they didn't talk. A tense silence had descended on the party. Tongues perched in mouths feeling like even the smallest sound would disturb the spell they were weaving. An enchantment that no harm had come to the ones they left behind.

Talos knew the ship had come into view because a ripple of joy moved through the crowd. Joy, relief, excitment.

The ship was as fat bellied as he remembered, the awnings pulled out and flapping in greeting.

He heard Thalla's squeal of joy and her running steps. He peered through the crowd to see her wallop into her brother at full speed. He picked her up and spun her around. Caira trilled as Thalla turned dizzily and scooped them up as well.

Dek emerged from the ship as the others crowded close. Dek reached a hand out to Indes and she gripped him as one would an old friend. He smiled at her before shuddering and releasing his form. Indes took his face in her hands. Talos could guess what she was saying.

Dek's eyes narrowed as he saw Talos approach. Thalla gasped as she saw him cut through the crowd, dragging Thwane by the arm.

"You don't know," she exclaimed a little breathless. She stood Thwane in front of Talos and his brow drew together. "Hoban wasn't Hoban at all. He was Talos. He is a spy."

Dek's interest perked up and he drifted to them. Talos gripped Thwane's outstretched arm.

"A spy?" Dek asked, his voice raspy and high. Talos turned to him and looked at the high forehead and wise eyes. He remembered Veda said Dek had been a keeper. Talos inclined his head.

"Now I am Thalla's prisoner," he answered. He reached a hand to the man. Dek looked at him apprehensively but took his hand. Talos could feel the hesitation in his grip.

"Soren gave him to me," Thalla set her chin proudly. "He has to do everything I say."

Dek looked between Thalla and Talos, this was all rushing at him a little too fast. He was a man of learning and thus slow to turn.

"Where is Soren?" Caira asked. They had crept close clinging to Thalla's hand. Thalla's face fell for the barest of seconds before she forced herself to smile again.

"Soren is trying to fix the ship."

"All alone?" Dek asked, his voice tight.

"Talos will go back for her tomorrow but first he has to rest."

Thalla took Thwane's arm again and dragged him towards the gathering, Caira stumbling behind. Clouded joy flowed from her. Talos wished he could bottle it and keep it deep in his heart for when he was alone again. He looked to Dek who said nothing. Talos understood. He inclined his head again and went to put down his pack.

His mission done he wished he could call Soren. Instead, a night on the outskirts of joy stretched out before him.

* * *

Dinner had been a lush occasion. The stores full to bursting from their stop in Cairn. Only Talos and Giz sat sullenly. Indes and Dania dined apart in the cabin Thalla and Caira had vacated for them. Dek must have joined him because he did not appear at dinner either.

After dinner Talos found Giz by the fire. Giz looked up at him through hooded eyes. Talos coughed before kicking his leg over the bench they set out. Around the ship a camp had sprung, lamps burned and chatter could be heard. The air held the tenuous joy of reunion, of setting up for what looked like a long stay. Talos would have to ask Indes the plan. It was two days until the Council expected a report. He needed to know exactly the hand he held.

"What do you want?" Giz asked his eyes turning to the fire.

"Where is the blaster?" Talos asked reaching into his coat. Paper brushed his hand. He paused. This had been Soren's coat. He clamped down on the desire to know her secrets. Another time.

He pulled out a small kit he had found in the hold.

"Why should I tell you? You'll just take it." Giz poked angrily at the fire. Talos bit back his retort that he would kill the coals that way.

"It will blow back in your hand one day unless you take care of it. Have you been cleaning it?" Talos continued unpacking the kit, laying a scrap of linen over the wood. A muscle moved in Giz's cheek as he seemed to be weighing Talos' truthfulness.

"No," he admitted. He pulled the blaster from his coat pocket and swung his leg over the bench. He passed it to Talos. He turned it in his hands, truly looking at it for the first time.

"It's a nice piece," he didn't look up at Giz but he felt a calming of the waters. Sorrow and frustration were easy bedfellows. Talos checked the priming switch. It was off. He disengaged the power source dropping it neatly into his hand. He looked up at Giz. "You know how to do that?"

The boy shook his head so Talos repeated the motion. "That's the power core. That means you can't shoot anyone while it's out. They don't last for forever so check it before you go anywhere you need a blaster."

He cracked the barrel forward exposing the innards. He took a small bottle and oiled the protesting hinges. Once he was done he passed Giz the bottle to read the label.

"A cared for blaster comes apart easy. The last thing you want is for it to rust shut."

Giz nodded. He seemed mesmerized by Talos' actions. Half nervous hen, half enthralled student.

"When you do it regularly it goes fast. Here," he handed the boy the solvent and the brush. He lifted the delicate bolt magazine from the back. "Clean the barrel, every shot degrades the sides. That's how you get blow back."

Talos held the dark blue cannister to the dying fire light. The boy was watching him as he awkwardly tried to clean the barrel, pumping the brush in and out, the scent of solvent heavy in the air. "What are you doing?"

"Your gas cannister is low," Talos answered. He pulled the silver tube from the kit and aligned it with the injection nozzle. "These things don't work by magic. Have Veda or Tank do this until you've had some practice."

"Can't you teach me now?" The barrel clattered as he cleaned it too roughly. Talos raised his brow looking at the awkward plunging of the brush.

"Master one thing at a time. Blasters are like women," Talos answered him watching as the cannister glowed. He slowly fed fuel into it, watching the purple blue swirls, checking the heat with his palm. He weaned the injector off slowly.

"What does that mean?" Giz scoffed. Talos took the solvent on a small swab. He cleaned the reflectors and the nozzle.

"Rushing makes a mess," he answered with a grin. It was an old joke, said to him when he was Giz's age, learning this from an older soldier. His hands had been just as unsteady. He wanted the end result of the task rather than the meditation of completing it.

Giz chuckled. The awkward eager laugh of a boy unaccustomed to either but deeply curious about both.

Talos reached for the blaster and Giz handed it back. He put the bolt magazine back in place. The barrel closed smoothly this time. He took the soft cloth and polished the outside.

He handed it back to Giz, shining and well oiled. Giz looked at it and reached for the power source.

"Word to the wise, keep that out until you know you need it. You'll blow something off carrying it around loaded."

Giz nodded and put the core in another pocket. Talos packed up the kit again. He felt there was more to be said. Wisdom, or something like it, hanging in the air. He felt he should tell the boy something profound to carry him through these last confusing years. He tried to remember if his trainers had ever said anything to him. He came up with nothing.

Veda interrupted.

"Indes wants you," she said in her tight-lipped way. Talos nodded.

He stood and handed the small kit to Giz. Talos swore the kid almost smiled.

As Talos approached the cabin Dek was leaving. He gave a Talos a stressed smile as he passed him in the hall. Talos felt his spine raise just a little. There was something in his look that told Talos he had already been the topic of conversation.

He knocked on the door and it wooshed open. The room was small, a bunk against one side, mounted half into the wall. Closets were built into the wall for storage. Indes sat at the table and Dania sat on the bed. She was covered once again in her robes. Talos expected this would be a less than social call.

"Tea, General?" Indes offered when he entered. She fiddled with her own steaming cup.

"No, thank you," he inclined his head. He fell into at ease position. No sense in pretending this was anything other than a debriefing.

"I suppose you figured out Dek has concerns," Indes said thoughtfully. She sipped her tea. Dania's eyes were on him.

"I got the sense, yes."

"I don't suppose you have given more thought to what will make you happy?"

Talos looked at his feet. He shrugged. "I don't know if I remember how to answer those types of questions."

"I have never held anyone's past against them, General, but I would be lying if I said I didn't have concerns." Indes looked up from her tea at him. He felt a weight placed around his neck.

"What can I do to clear the air between us?" Talos knew what the answer would be. He did not know how to prepare himself for it.

"Submit to Dania's powers. Give me some assurance you understand what you ask from us."

"I have asked nothing."

"Do you believe that?" Indes raised her brow at him in disbelief. "Do you think you can pluck my daughter from us as if she was a berry in a hedgerow. Ripe and wasted unless someone eats her? We are not crows who have built their nest in the bush. She is as vital to us as an organ-"

"You use her," Talos interrupted before he could school his tongue.

"I trust her." Indes' voice shook. "Will you submit so I may trust you?"

"Yes," Talos answered without hesitation.

"Is there anything you wish to confess before Dania finds it?" Indes asked.

Dania rose silently and walked like a spectre to him. He sunk to his knees as she reached for him. He did not know if it was respect for her stiff limbed posture or because he felt the need to prostrate himself.

"The Kree are here," he answered holding Dania's piercing gaze. She paused and looked to Indes.

"How do you know?" Indes asked him with her breath tight.

"The damage on the trail."

Dania lowered her gaze as Talos continued to look at her. Indes' eyes moved to her mate.

"You knew?"

Dania kept her eyes lowered. "I felt his fear for Soren. I knew there could only be so many reasons for it."

"You never said anything," Indes was hurt. Disbelieving.

"We had to get to the ship. I knew he would say it. When the time was right."

Talos was rocked by her trust in him.

"We will talk later," Indes decreed. She looked away from her spouse. "Look into his heart and tell me if I should trust him."

Dania placed her hands on Talos' shoulders. He flinched despite the softness of her touch.

"Try to be calm," she murmured to him as the world went white.

Talos opened his eyes. He did not remember closing them. Dania was next to him and he was standing in a place he hadn't been in twenty years.

"Where are we?" Dania asked him.

"Zendinar," he answered. It had the immaterial rightness of a dream.

"Did you not know you this place was here? You sound surprised. Have you ever dreamed of it?"

"I don't remember my dreams," Talos answered with a distracted voice. He moved around the room. He wondered if he could pick up any of the things strewn about. "Why are we here?"

"Obviously, this is a safe place for you."

"It's currently not on fire, so it is safer than the last time I was here." He pulled back the curtain and looked out the window. The outside wavered like a painted screen.

"This is just the start," Dania gestured to the door. Light spilled beneath it.

"I don't have time for a trip down memory lane. Just tell me what it is you want from me. What will make Indes trust me?"

Dania considered him, her calmness made him angry.

"You can't lie to me here. You also can't lie to yourself. It would be unfair of me to force realizations onto you, that you aren't ready for."

Talos set his shoulders.

"I am not in the habit of lying to myself."

Dania laughed at him. He tensed.

"We all shelter our hearts."

"Ask me whatever you want, I am not afraid." Talos ran a finger over the battered toy cruiser. It moved on hidden wheels as if it could fly. He had pulled it from the garbage and fixed it. It looked better in his memory. It glided easier without the sticking wheel.

"Do you believe what the Council says about us?"

"I don't know anymore. You seem more lost than we are," Talos couldn't hold his answer back. Dania smiled at his lack of tact.

"Would you force Soren to leave? Guilt her?"

"Never," vehemence doubled by Giz's words that afternoon. He was not a brute. He was not a thief.

"Do you mean us harm?"

"If it meant-" Talos paused in his words. He could feel Thalla's laugh shaking against him, Reema's teary cheek pressed to his neck. He felt Giz's impotent sorrow as if it was his own. "I would protect Soren with my life, but I will not trade my freedom for yours."

Dania nodded considering his words. Perhaps they weren't as damming as they felt.

"We would not ask you to. I feel the boy who was here. You may have lost him, General but he waits for you. I want him to be free."

"What does any of this mean when we are at war? You waste time and resources rebelling against your own people." He was angry at her he realized. And at Indes.

"Do you think we are the ones that make war? Do you think Soren is an agent of war? Would you make her one?"

Talos felt water grow behind his eyes. He was a figment of his imaginings, why did his body feel pressure? A tear fell hot and potent down his cheek and he could do nothing to stop it.

"I don't deserve her. I don't want her for anything good. Keep her away from me."

Dania smiled at him. He crouched low as she approached. Forgotten muscle memory. He had been in this room when the first bombs fell.

"That is one problem with this gift. Sometimes the things we say don't mean what it appears we mean."

"Perhaps because you hide behind rhetoric," the words were torn from Talos by a wind he couldn't see.

"Talos," Dania knelt with him as he sniffed back the water he could not control. He was wracked by shame. By defeat. By his own carelessness in becoming involved. He should have stayed in Cairn. He let his anger carry him beyond the world he understood. Now he was lost again. He should have stayed and mourned Emerys. He should have told them of his failure. He should have accepted reassignment with dignity.

Instead he was so deep inside himself he barely recognized the man he was and crying in a witch's arms.

"You could be loved here," she rocked him gently, her prosthetics stiff but her warmth still filled him. "There is so much love that could be yours."

"Love is the first thing that will kill you," he let his head rest on her shoulder.

"Then stubbornness would be the second. We all must die in the end."

"I don't want to die."

His words surprised him. He felt their truth but he was rocked by it. Dania held him at arm's length and looked at him. Talos felt she gazed at him and saw one thousand disparate pieces.

"Will you tell the Elders of Skrullos where to find us?"

"No, but the longer I stay here the more likely it is they will come for me. They are impatient. I am a danger to you."

"Knowing that, will you leave Soren here with us?"

Talos' head felt heavy as he shook it.

"No. Not if she will come with me. If she takes my hand I will never let her go."

"If you won't go through the door there is no more for us here."

Dania straightened and the room seemed to melt. Talos was aware of his eyes focusing on the floor of the ship. He was bent forward and all his tissues and membranes felt full of lead. He groaned. He felt his cheeks and they were damp.

Indes was watching them intently.

"Well, pass your judgement," Talos growled. Dania stepped away from him. Her eyes flicked to Indes.

"It is not that easy, General. Rest. If you wake tomorrow you will know you have my blessing to go to Soren. You must leave silently. You have not earned a well met parting. I won't have any of our number following you from misplaced loyalty."

"And if you kill me will you admit it to them?" he worked the words out through his stiff clenched jaw.

"They will not know to mourn you."

Talos stood on heavy protesting limbs.

"If you kill me, the Council will come. No one will be safe. Soren will be alone."

"They will not come quickly enough. We are good at fleeing and you will be dead. So really it is none of your concern."

Indes' voice was like iron. He saw only the straight spined determination of a leader. She turned from him, dismissing him. Her mate's eyes burned into him as he had been entirely exposed to her. Talos left the room pushed by the cold wind of disdain. His yearning for Soren increased as his body grew more weary. He knew where he would sleep and Skrullos help anyone who got there before him.

* * *

Soren's loft was empty when he reached it. It had the quality of a shrine, untouched like some old god lived there. He climbed up the ladder and stumbled into the place. It felt like a year had passed since he was here last. Could it possibly only four days? He would leave again tomorrow.

He kicked off his boots, tripping on the things strewn across the floor. He laughed at the idea of Soren every night leaving her clothes in heaps or abandoning projects at her feet. He peeled off his coat and shirt rolling them tightly over his boots. He kept the comm in his hand. He wanted to talk to her again, capture her like a fly in amber and fall asleep with her in the palm of his hand. He crawled into the bed that smelled of her. After the cramped uncomfortable nights he had spent this was heaven. He breathed her in. His body relaxed as he lay on his stomach, each vertebrae melting one by one until he was languid, cradled by sheets that smelled of earth.

"Are you asleep?" Her voice came drifting over the comm. His heart thudded as he pressed the button to talk.

"Why can you call me but I can't call you?" He grumbled. Exhaustion was setting in. Hearing her voice made him feel it more acutely. One fear assuaged for the night. She laughed softly at him.

"It's how the encryption works best. One calls, the other answers."

"You think you are so clever."

"I am so clever," she answered him. He ached for her. Two days seemed too long. "Are you okay?"

He knew his voice was rough, his being still shivering from allowing Dania to invade him. "I am fine. Are you?"

"Tired," she answered him. Her voice sounded small and hushed. "Are you coming soon?"

"Soon, if Indes doesn't kill me in the night."

Soren laughed again. It was an exhausted sound, a little delirious. He wished he could tuck her against him and they could rest together.

"I am glad you think it is funny," he growled at her.

"If she told you, you're going to be fine."

Talos grunted. It had hovered beyond him the apprehension that he would need to fight his was back to _the Ibu-Ibu_.

"Your mothers are insane," he muttered.

"They lost their minds raising me."

"I could see that."

"Hey," she giggled. "You like me. What does that say about you?"

"Who said I liked you?"

"Too bad, I like you."

Something blossomed in Talos' chest. He felt it unfurl slowly. He was being sentimental in his exhaustion. Dania had hauled something out of his murky depths he had to bury once again.

"And what does that say about you?" He teased her. He rolled onto his back. He held the comm just above his mouth. His other hand he splayed over and over across his chest.

"I am a sucker for a pretty pair of eyes," she answered him. He smiled. He felt her voice roll over him like the sun coming past the clouds.

"Captain, did you call just to sweet talk me?"

"Did you make it? Is everyone okay?" Her voice was like paper thin glass. She was trying not to let it crack.

"We are fine. You need to clean your room."

"I like it that way. Don't sleep there if you don't like it."

He wished they didn't both sound exhausted. He wished he could whisper soft and dirty things to her and listen to her moan in sheets that smelled of her. He wished he could see she was safe.

"Where are you sleeping?"

"I have work to do," she sighed.

"You need sleep," he whispered to her. He lowered his voice as if he could coax sleep from her. "You'll get sick if you don't sleep."

"I am fine," she said as her jaw stretched around a yawn.

"You don't sound fine," he teased. "You sound sleepy, little Soren."

"Only because you are putting the idea in my head," she murmured in protest. He didn't want to her to go. He could talk to her all night but he needed her to rest.

"Where are you?"

"The galley"

"You can sleep there. I did. It's not too uncomfortable."

"I miss my bed," she whined.

"The bed misses you. Not that I would let you sleep-" she cut him off with more laughter.

"Don't you ever get tired?"

"You could try and wear me out," he growled back to her. He wanted her to feel him press down on her. He wanted his desire to fill her lungs.

"You're awful."

"You're the one who likes me," he smiled at the warmth in her voice. He would be there with her soon. Indes' words floated back to him. He would be leaving Thalla behind tomorrow. It made him nervous in a different way.

He must have been quiet for too long. He heard her call to him with a hesitant voice.

"You still there, Big Guy?"

"Have you ever talked to Thalla about the way things are-" he hesitated trying to find the right way to say it. "Between men and women?"

He heard her rustling for a moment. She seemed taken aback by his question.

"What brought this up?" She was wary. Not of him. Of something else. She felt it too then.

"I have to leave her tomorrow and-"

"She has her brother and the mothers." He wondered if it was him Soren tried to comfort or herself. Talos covered his eyes. How could one loose teenage boy cause so much worry?

"Did something happen?" Her voice was raw with concern.

"No, I just feel trouble stirring."

Soren made a soft sound, exasperated but amused.

"Welcome to the world, Talos. It is nothing but chaos and worry."

"She knows though? How to be safe?"

He felt perverted for worrying but there had been an unpredictable light in Giz's eye when he watched her. He didn't want her life burdened too early.

"You feel like a dirty old man, don't you?" Soren teased and Talos groaned. He wished the bed would swallow him.

"You are not making this easy."

"You are starting to sound like you care."

"I don't," he protested quickly.

"Fine, then. I won't tell you Tank is on it."

"She is?" Talos peeped through his fingers at the ceiling.

"You don't care, remember?" She was mocking him. If she was there he would roll her under him and stop her mouth. He laughed with her instead.

"You owe me, Captain."

"You keep reminding me," he could hear her smile. "What do you want?"

"To start? Stay with me."

"How?"

"Keep the channel open."

"We are both half dead. You will be asleep soon," she sounded flustered.

"I don't care. Let me listen to you."

He rolled on his side, his drooping gaze on the comm. She was silent for a moment but he could hear the crackle of the open channel. He could hear the low static of her breathing.

"You're a strange man, Talos" she said at last.

"You're the one who likes me," he let his eyes close.


	29. Chapter 29

Talos woke with the sun creeping through the shield, across the floor to his bed. The dawn so new it was pale and red. He lay on his side, blinking away sleep. The realization growing that he was still alive. Indes had decided to trust him.

He was still laying on his side, the comm on the sheets. A light blinking to tell him the channel was open. He smiled.

"Are you still there?" His voice was gravelly and heavy from sleep. Soren made a noise back. It was half a word trapped between sleeping lips. They had done this back and forth all night. Whenever one roused they spoke to the other.

"What time is it?" Soren moaned. There was something unbearably intimate about hearing her morning sounds. Talos wanted to lie to her, tell her it was still night. Go back to sleep. Leave the channel open and let me hear your breathing.

He couldn't.

"The sun is coming up," he stretched. He groaned as joints and fluids popped. She made a small whining sound. He could hear rustling as she got up. "Stay asleep. I am coming to get you."

"I have work to do. I have already slept too long," she murmured. Talos could imagine how warm and pliant she would be. He sat up in bed and put his bare feet on the cold floor. The daydream of holding her against him and murmuring promises in her ear was as insistent as the need to pack up and be on his way.

"You need to rest," he ran his hands over his face to brush the sleep away. He could not adjust to feeling things against his skin, to having the shape of his true face beneath his fingers.

"I need to work."

Talos hesitated, "when I get to you the Council expects a report."

He felt Soren pause on the other side. A reminder there were always two sides to play.

"We will worry about that once you get here," she said at last.

"I will be there soon," he insisted. He needed her to know he was coming for her. That if he didn't arrive it was because something stopped him. That the Kree had found him or some trap of the planet's surface.

"Be safe," Soren said as she closed the comm.

* * *

Veda was waiting for him beyond the doors of the ship. She was leaning against a crate, a staff tucked into her shoulder. One leg was wrapped around it so it supported her body. Her eyes were half-closed. Talos smiled. The lone sentry waiting for him. In one hand she held the scanner.

She lifted her head as the doors closed. She looked pale and weary in the morning light.

This was to be who saw him off. He shifted his pack onto his shoulders. He missed Hoban's strength in these moments. The broadness of his back would have meant Talos could carry more.

Veda stretched and extended the scanner towards him. He took it. There was silence as each watched the treeline over the other's shoulder. He knew Veda did not expect him to return and did not mourn his leaving. Talos did not expect to return himself. Something deep inside crumpled at the thought.

"Indes said I would not get to say goodbye," he said looking at the scanner in his hand. Two blinking dots separated by a deceptively far distance.

"It would be wasted on me," Veda agreed.

"I suppose she told you not to deliver any messages either," he sucked his teeth. He almost wanted to laugh at the absurdity.

"Explicitly," she nodded.

"No favors either?"

"Forbidden."

Silence fell between them. Heavy and tight like a held breath. She broke it first.

"Although I can't help it if my ears work," she said her eyes on the middle distance.

"So, Stitcher could come to understand that it would have hurt too much to say goodbye?"

"She could. If you would rather her not know Indes forbid it," Veda was weighing him with her flint-like stare.

"A little ignorance makes peace easier," Talos shrugged.

"I cannot argue with that," Veda inclined her head. She left him to return to the tents.

The journey back had begun.

* * *

It was different making the journey alone. For the first few leagues, Talos had felt relief. He could move quicker alone, the journey would be shorter. He may even reach her before nightfall. If he could keep pace. It was as the familiar places began to press in on him he felt the absence of others descend.

He did not know how he had become accustomed to the company so quickly. He had been alone for ten years. Maybe not isolated but without his kind. In a matter of days, he had grown used to the company.

He kept the comm close to his heart, he didn't think Soren would call but still, the silence weighed on him.

He was more aware of the sounds the jungle made as he walked. The cracking and creaking of wood in the wind, the intermittent calls of birds. The rustling of small animals.

It was the silence that alerted him to trouble. The rustling stopped. The birds fell quiet. He could smell ozone in the air and the cracking of trees. Too many. The sound too clustered together. When he turned in a circle he could see only the still jungle around him. It was somewhere distant trees were being felled. He did not know if it was the Trill or the Kree. Either could be bad. If the Trill knew the Kree were on-planet they could be eager to show loyalty. The Kree would kill him on sight then scour the planet for more.

He had to keep moving.

He passed the first camp with plenty of light still ahead of him. He knew he would not make it before nightfall and he was debating the merits of reaching the ship in the dark.

Any risk was outweighed by picturing Soren waiting for him.

He pushed hard, the heat of the day causing beneath his jacket to grow humid with sweat. He could not wait to be away from here. His nose had grown dead to the stench but the heat and dust-tinged light made him wish he could crawl out of his skin.

He checked the scanner as he rested by the water. The sun was beginning to set although he couldn't see it. The trees were blocking his view but he could see the wine-colored streaks leading to a point on the horizon. It would be dark soon. Night fell quickly through the dust storm. He was three leagues off. He was impatient. The land around the swamp was more treacherous than what lay behind him. A sensible man would make camp here and arrive early the next morning.

If only Talos was a sensible man.

He lifted his pack and set out again, the shadows from the trees growing long and menacing. Soren still had not called. He hoped night would bring her voice to him.

He moved through the trees, he used a red beam to navigate. It would catch the glitter of gunpowder sand but would be dull if seen through the trees. He kept his eyes on the ground as he walked.

He had underestimated how his pace would be slowed by the low light. He would be lucky if he reached the ship by dawn. He cursed his recklessness but he could not stop now. Around him, sand welled up from crevices in the ground. Nowhere was safe to light a fire or set up a tent.

He walked for an hour and only drew slightly closer to the dot where Soren was. He felt his exhaustion grow, his body craved rest and food. His heart craved her voice, something to keep him going. She had called him every night and now she was silent. He reached into his pocket over and over to check the disc was still there. His heart told him it wasn't a coincidence. It tried to trick him into feeling justified in plunging further on.

The voices began as echoes. Too far off and distant they could have been bird calls. Through the darkness, he saw a light. A circle of them. He shut off his narrow beam and felt his way slowly towards it.

The voices became clearer. He checked his scanner, they were two leagues from the beacon, on a lower path than they had taken before. He thought it looked like an old river bed, dried and filled with leaves. It meant he was a little above the circle.

He tested the ground with his foot and finding it solid lay on his stomach so he could peer into the ravine. He had brought visnoculars, he had strapped them to his pack feeling like a thief, knowing they would only be helpful if they were headed somewhere uncharted.

He was grateful for them now, he could focus in on the group. He could tell already by their stature they were Kree. He slid in an earpiece and tuned it carefully. Their seclusion had made them careless. They had no blocker. Talos could only hope they had no frequency scanners.

"- it's possible," a voice crackled into his ear. "This area seems mostly uncharted by the Trill."

"No hunting this far out," a man's voice joined. There were four of them at the camp. Talos did not know if more patrolled. It would be foolish when a misstep would erode their armor.

"They are so primitive," Talos heard the disgust dripping from the other man. He could see in the white light of their halogen beams he had blue skin and a curled blonde mustache. 

"It's our gain if we find what we are looking for here instead of near the city. It's easier if they will sell us the land. No warring with the natives." Talos thought the blue man must be the leader. The others looked at him when he talked.

"Have the scanners picked up anything?" It was a woman's voice. Talos froze. He felt his heartbeat pause. His whole body primed to flee.

"Nothing that makes any sense. I have been beaming the readings back to Hala to see if we can get a SO on it."

"They should have sent one with us. This guesswork is only milling trees. We could be here for months."

"They are on edge since the other Empires started investigating Rhondar."

"Nova can't keep their nose out of anything. It was Rhondarian terrorists who caused the collapse," the curled mustache had venom in his voice.

"What readings did you send back?" The leader interrupted the rant that was building.

"Eleven Klicks out. We are getting the heat pulses Hala said to watch for but they are intermittent and they appear to be in a swamp."

"Why aren't we heading that direction? I am getting sick of probing marsh."

"We will hit it soon enough."

"It could be a corpse off-gassing. I am in no rush to find a Treledon decomposing." The blonde man grimaced.

Talos felt pure unbridled fear take hold of his heart. He knew what they were seeing on their scanners. He knew it with the terrified certainty of any prey animal in the shadow of a hawk. Their scanners could see _the Ibu-Ibu_.

His mind raced. He tried to formulate a plan but nothing came to mind. He could destroy the scanner but Hala had the readings. He couldn't pick them off from the ridge when he was uncertain how many teams were planetside. The only answer was to go to Soren and take her far away from _the Ibu-Ibu_. Drag her away if he had to.

He tried to raise himself quietly and back away from the ledge. His feet brushed against something firm. He froze. He felt himself shudder and shift on instinct.

He rolled onto his back and looked up at a man holding a long blaster. He looked confused in the almost complete darkness. Talos stood.

"Bal-kar why are you here?" The man lowered his weapon slightly. He was four inches taller than Talos dressed in armor. "What are you doing up here?"

"Why are you here?" Talos countered. He set his chin and a jaunty angle, hands resting on his belt. He took a step towards the man and he backed up dutifully. Talos shifted on the balls of his feet and looked at the ground to watch for the changing light.

"I am on patrol, you know this." The man lifted his gun stupidly. He squinted at Talos in the dark. "Why are you dressed like this?"

"It's brutish to wonder about like that. With a weapon? Are you going to hunt swamp rats for your dinner?"

"I am on patrol," the man repeated dumbly. Talos saw fear in his eyes. He wondered if the eerie woods scared him if his head was full of stories of the things that tricked you in the night? Talos had become one of those monsters.

"For what?" Talos stroked his blonde mustache.

"I don't know," the man repeated dumbly. Lor-Vol, the Kree Bal-kar provided.

"Then you will have trouble finding it," Talos said patronizingly. He had been taking step after step, pushing the larger man slowly backward in his hesitance. Talos had begun to learn this place in his journeys across it.

"I don't want to find anything, I am patrolling. You seem strange."

Talos considered he may be able to slip away and leave the man uninjured but at that moment the comm in his ear crackled and a familiar voice could be heard in the night between them.

"Change out, Lor-Vol," Bal-Kar droned in his ear.

Lor-Vol went on high alert raising his blaster. It was a ranged weapon and Talos was too close. He lunged at the man pushing him backward. The sizzle of gunpowder sand immediately filled the night. The man sunk quickly as the sand attacked the metal. His blaster fired as he howled in pain.

"I am sorry it is an undignified death," Talos panted as he forced the man down.

He tried to grapple with Talos as he gripped Talos' bag. Commotion could be heard through the comm. Talos managed to slip a knife from his belt and pierce the man's thigh as it sunk. He howled more. The Kree would come soon. The sand fried his blood, the smell coming up in noxious waves as toxic grains poured into the gaping wound Talos had left. The man went limp and Talos struggled away. Hopefully, they would think it was an accident. Talos turned on his dull beam so he could run quicker. 

The stench of sulfur fueled his relief as he ran faster towards it. Behind him, lights were moving.

Talos forced himself to still. To listen. He extinguished his beam. The Kree was dead he assured himself. He was dead and they could not prove what had killed him, the mark of the knife already burned away. Making noise would only call attention to himself.

He rested against a tree and watched the white lights hovering in the trees. They never turned outwards, never searched beyond the body of their teammate.

He breathed slowly, willed his heart to beat less rapidly. An unnatural death that stunk of hellfire. His flesh itched with the face he wore. He felt filthy with it. He looked at the scanner again, the light that was Soren so deceptively close.

He would keep moving towards her. Slowly, looping around the long way if he had to. Risking the unknown to ensure they had no clear path to her. Her silence weighed even more heavily on him.

* * *

In the morning light, Talos broke the clearing of trees. _The Ibu-Ibu_ was gone. The frame of wood was collapsed over and swamp had been silently digesting it.

In his exhaustion, he checked the scanner. He stood above the beacon. He moved quickly to the murky edge of the swamp. As he did something shimmered in the air above it.

The ship was still there, only cloaked. Talos was aware how sound could carry in the silence. The Kree behind him were already curious about this spot. He took the comm out and clicked the button uselessly. It made a dull empty sound. She had not called him this morning and the panic had set in deeper.

He did not know how to get in the invisible, impenetrable shell. He walked to where he thought the nose would be and tested it with his boot. Something solid met his foot. A dark shadow pooling around the pressure. He looked up along the spine of the ship and that was when he saw it. Glinting silver and small a panel floated in the air. Talos carefully stepped another foot onto the nose. He was aware on either side the swamp threatened to swallow him.

He moved slowly up the invisible ship, the angle steeper than he remembered. The glass bubbles cracked into his knees as he slipped between them. His eyes on the panel and the small wire than disappeared from it.

He reached it and felt with his fingers for the unsealed grate. He called into hearing it echo.

"Soren, open the bloody ship."

He got nothing but his voice back.

He had a stupid idea.

He yanked the wire out and the creaking of the fan stopped. He struck the grate with his foot, the shock causing the cloaking to flicker. He struck it with all his strength. It creaked beneath him. She would either hear the noise and let him in or he would drop in the exhaust vent.

The interior of the exhaust vent was coated with decades of smoke and grease. Talos abandoned his jacket outside and dropped in. His hands tried to brace through the grease and he prayed it did not narrow or turn at any point. It wreaked and he wanted to be sick with the tightness of it.

His feet hit the stalled fan at the bottom of the vent. The heat in the ship was sweltering and the smell of the sulfur intense. He kicked the fan out of the frame, dropping onto the unlit range below.

He immediately brought his greasy cuff to his mouth. How had Soren been breathing?

That was when the realization dawned. She hadn't been. The horribly wrong thing finally had a shape. This unseen cloud had engulfed her.

The floor was raked at an even more deadly angle. The ship had sunk faster. Talos wanted to drop the cloaking and vent the ship but the Kree were watching on their scanners. A burst of heat would lead them here. He wanted to begin checking rooms but it was useless. He felt the blackness pressing in on his chest.

Little Soren and her tight places. He would not find her in the rooms of the ship. She would be in the walls, in the ceiling. Somewhere ridiculous.

He entered the main hallway and nearly slid down it. He braced his slick hands as best he could, panels were open and hanging all the way down the passage. He had no light. He had left it on the shore.

He reached as deep as he could into each gaping opening. The metal biting into his shoulder as he uselessly pawed at wires.

He came up the other side. The ship was dark, all lifesystems choked to keep the cloaking running that much longer. He tripped on boots. Soren's boots. He had found her jacket in the galley. Ahead of him, something flapped from a vent. Her shirt was half caught in the metal grate. The heat was oppressive. Her pants were puddled beneath. Talos leaned back his neck cranked back as he tried to see into the ceiling.

He saw the green sole of her foot. His heart both leaped and sank. It threw itself off a cliff into ice water. His breath was coming in short gasps. He would pass out soon too.

The ceiling was low. She must have pulled herself up. Talos jumped his hands grasping. He hung from the edge of the opening his oxygen-starved muscles protesting.

He struggled to pull himself up with one arm as he reached for her ankle. He dropped down dragging Soren out with him. They landed in a painful heap beneath the vent. She was limp. He swore she moaned. His terrified heart was certain of it.

He sat up and shook her. Nothing. It was not easy to carry a limp woman, even one as slim as Soren. Her and her damn height. He hefted her without ceremony over one shoulder. The incline of the ship threatening to roll them both backward. He had left greasy sooty handprints all over her legs. Her singlet was soaked in sweat. He should have brought her clothes from the ship. He had not thought of it.

He found the main doors and opened them as the effort of carrying her drew more gas into his lungs. Every breath burned. He lowered the gangplank.

The ship creaked as the gangplank met nothing but air. It lolled like a tongue as new oxygen rushed in and the gas expelled out in a cloud of bad breath. He walked out onto it as far as he dared and lay Soren down. 

His training was lost to him. He rolled her on her side and lay beside her. He forced himself to press two fingers to her neck. There was a pulse. It was barely more than a flutter. He rubbed her arms and back. It was only then he noticed the blue against the green. In his terror, he forgot about the Kree. He had been alone in his head. That was never the case, he was always aware of the other. He felt none of the disdain he expected. The Kree had been as focused on saving another as he was.

He should let him go. He didn't want Soren to see him like this. He was about to release him when he realized dark eyes were on him.

Relief flooded Talos and he held himself back. The desire to embrace her like iron rings around his heart. To kiss her. Even touching her cheek seemed like it could threaten to break the spell that had brought her back. She looked at him confused.

"Talos," she wheezed. She recognized him. His chest clenched harder. "Why do you look like Bal-Kar?"

Ice drenched Talos. He sat up and away from her.

"You know him?" Talos asked.

"He was on Rhondar," Soren answered.

"Well, now he is here. Or did you already know that?" He didn't recognize the venom that leaked out of him. The betrayal and suspicion were more acute for having opened himself up. It appeared the Ulohmu had treacherous allies he had not even imagined. Disgust at his form clung to him more potently than ever before. He released the Kree with a shuddering, pulsing snarl. He felt the gangplank beneath them sway. He pictured her on Rhondar, beautiful and lithe, emerald embracing blue. He was sick with it.

"I am not answering that," Soren rolled away from him, her breathing shallow and pained. He should help her, not interrogate her. Her lack of vehement denial made jealousy leap in him.

"You will be glad to know they are coming this way."

Adrenaline pounded through Soren. The world was hazy and tinged blue. She wanted to sleep but she couldn't. She wanted to explain how she knew Bal-kar but she couldn't. Not yet. As the air breezed over her she realized she was almost naked in front of Talos. She sat up, the effort causing her to pull in wheezing breathes. She curled her legs protectively to her chest, aware of the cold metal of the gangplank through her basics.

She looked at him and saw the smeared smoke over his skin and on his clothes. Talos looked over at her and she could taste the dark green jealousy that slipped passed his iron shielding. Too potent to be contained.

"Talos," she reached for him and though he flinched he did not knock her away. She pressed her head to his shoulder and she tried to ease her judgment of him. If he wore Bal-kar's face it was because he had encountered the Kree. His path had not been easy. At this moment strength meant falling back on Indes' teachings. "I am glad you are back."

Talos glanced down at her. The handprints on her legs he realized were not his. Another man's hands puppeted by Talos. Why did everything have to burn in new ways?

She lifted her forehead and her hand found the raised edges of his oldest scar. She traced it through his shirt. It was like every nerve ending in his body ended at the ragged flesh. He breathed out. The slow circling of her fingers an incantation pulling him to the surface after the sim.

"It will be a long time before there are no secrets between us," she said. She was breathless and he was a brute and a child for forcing her to comfort him. Shame filled him, pressing the jealousy and distrust from every chamber of his body. "A long journey does not mean an impossible one."

He took her hand from his shoulder. He held it tight in his own. He kissed each fingertip as her foggy head rested against his shoulder.

He kissed her palm last as she radiated calm. He moved her hand to his chest, over his heart. He covered it with his hand.

"Will you never learn, woman, to put yourself first? You should knock my foolish arse off this rickety plank and be done with me."

Soren laughed. She pressed a kiss to his scar and grabbed a fist full of his shirt, shaking him slightly.

"I still might, Beast. If you weren't so greasy I thought the fall might light you on fire."

"I climb down into hell itself for you and this is the thanks I get?"

The platform beneath them shuddered and he felt Soren's grip on him tighten.

"I cannot save _the Ibu-Ibu_," she said quietly. The defeat and sadness welled into her chest.

"You did not mire her. It is not your job to save her."

"Can you tell that to my heart?" She huffed.

"If you open your mouth wide enough, I can try." She hit him and he turned in her arms. His eyes on her chest, he grinned at her. "Or I can take the direct route."

She laughed and pushed him away, "and you have the stones to be jealous of my past, General? The way you carry on I am competing with a dozen women."

Talos stood, his face wistful as he looked at her. He reached his hands down to pull her up with him.

There had been one and she was gone. He could not save her but the work had just begun to save Soren.

"Hundreds, Captain. I will name them as we abandon ship."


	30. Chapter 30

Talos yielded _the Ibu-Ibu's_ fate to Soren. He stood at the ready to follow any direction she had. They opened as many hatches and seals as they could to vent the sulfurous gas slowly, wary the Kree were curious and aware of their position.

Apparently Soren's first edict was he had to shower. Talos was happy to oblige after his trip down the exhaust. She declined his invitation to join him. She would pack. Most things had been taken in the rush to go to the next camp but Soren felt it her duty as the last guardian of the ship to scour it for any forgotten pieces.

"There is no place for sentimentality in war," Talos argued as she pushed him towards the privvy.

"You will be in the shower, General. Why worry how I spend that time?"

Her legs were still bare, she was all green skin and muscle. He thought she must be trying to torturing him.

"We have to get out of here. We should clean up quickly and not load ourselves with trinkets."

"It won't take long," she poked him in the chest as the door wooshed open and his boots met lightweight formed tile. "Some things can't be replaced."

He opened his mouth to argue. To tell her she may never see the Ulohmu again so it was senseless burden but she surprised him by grabbing the hem of his shirt and pulling it over his head.

He growled as he was free of the linen.

"Except for this," she winked at him. "I am burning this."

He made to reach for her, catch her in his arms and pull her under the water with him but she retreated quickly the door closing behind her.

The water was warm, heated in the tanks by endless stretches of contained heat. It had been a long time now since _the Ibu-Ibu_ had known the freezing expanse of space travel.

As he scrubbed the smoke and grease from him he heard the outer door open. He saw the distorted shape of Soren creep in.

"Don't burn my pants," he called over the sound of the water running off his scrubbing hands and hitting the tiles.

"They are my pants," Soren called back.

"Are you planning to fit them any time soon?" He teased.

"Get out it's my turn," she threw a towel over the door as he shut off the water. He wrapped it around his waist as he opened the door to the foggy room. Sulfur still clung but breathing no longer ached.

"You should have just come in with me," he smiled at her. She tilted her chin and wrinkled her nose.

"I have to sink the ship. We have no time to delay," she slid passed him, coming close. He wondered what she would do if he kissed her. She shoved his shoulder so he stepped out of the door and leaned against the sink.

"You know there is more than one shower," he observed watching her pull off singlet and basics in skewed silhouette . She chucked them over the top of the door and started the water.

"You have already warmed this one up," she retorted. The rippled glass teased him as he could only see the shifting of green against the white.

"Is that all I am good for?"

"So far? Yes."

He laughed at her and let his imagination run wild knowing she was so close. A truce hung in the air. An agreement not yet ratified. He could have her. Eventually. Not now. Not at any defined point in the future. She was waiting for some secret sign. If she thought she could wait out his allegiance to the Council or trick him away she was sorely mistaken.

"Correct me if I am wrong," he called over the water "but who kidnapped who in this little game of ours?"

"You're a spy," she accused him. He saw her bend and watch the handprints away from her legs. "You wanted to spy on us."

"You needed me."

"I needed a Trill."

He wondered if he waited here long enough she would come out.

"I did alright," he protested.

"Is that why you are hovering? You want a pat on the back?"

"At this point, I would take anything Captain."

She laughed, it had the small smug edge of knowing she was desired. At least his devotion flattered her. She had left new clothes for him next to a neat pile of her own. He stepped into the pants pulling them up his legs. They sagged a little at the hips, but they would have to do.

He threw the towel over the door. Soren turned off the water and pulled it in. There was a peaceful domesticity about it all. As if they were not two leagues from their greatest enemies, as if he hadn't murdered a man to protect them, as if this ship would not be soon at the bottom of the swamp.

Soren cracked open the door as she covered herself. The water shimmered against her skin. They smelled of the same soap, the humidity surrounded both of them. Talos found new depths to his ache for her.

"What's the plan?" He asked to escape the poetry that filled his head.

"You go on shore. I open all the vents. We let the pressure suck her under. When the Kree come they won't find her without draining the swamp."

Talos nodded as he tucked in the billowing shirt as best he could. "What do we do from there?"

"You will need to call the Elders. I will need a new ship. The nearest city will be our next destination."

"And then what?" He pushed his hip away from the sink. He crept towards her. She smiled at him, slow and sad.

"Talos," she whispered his name as he pulled her closer. She let him tilt her chin up but her eyes searched his with a look he didn't understand. Was it mourning for the ship? Had his flirting and insistence worn her thin?

He gathered her damp and warm against him. Now was not the time but there would never be a right time. No moment would ever be perfect.

"Tell me what we are waiting for," he touched his forehead to hers. He flexed his fingers into her. He could never accustom himself to her skin against his.

Soren closed her eyes, she reached out to him. She knew he could feel her senses brushing against his resistance. She had faked boldness but she was running out of places to hide. She wanted him but she feared becoming the woman that could have him. Leaving the Ulohmu, becoming a General's woman in a silent war, allowing the Elders of Skrullos to know her.

Would they put a tracker in her too? Would they remove their implants and breed them like animals? Would they pull from her every hidden secret and use her to hunt her family? Would they separate them? Would Talos stop them? Could she truly trust the man when she didn't trust the ones who had his allegiance?

Without answers to these fears Soren could not lose her heart to him.

"Not being on a sinking ship would be a good start."

He laughed and let her go. She could breathe.

"And this new ship, will it be for two?" He searched her face.

"It will be the ship for the Ulohmu. They cannot stay here."

"And once we deliver it to them?"

"I will continue to captain my ship. My work is not done."

"And what of me?" His eyes turned dark. Soren felt exposed for the first time. The towel that covered her immaterial against the reaching and expanding of her heart. She did not like the words she would have to say next but she shrugged coldly.

"You have only ever asked to be taken to the nearest city. Once we reach it our agreement is at an end."

He bristled. If he had wanted her to plead with him to stay he had chosen the wrong woman to woo.

"Is that all? And what am I to get in parting?" His eyes raked over her and she wanted to hate him. She wanted to feel nothing for hurting him.

"We only agreed to being mostly alive."

"We agreed we would negotiate once I returned. I am here. I want to negotiate." He grit the words out around the frustration that burned in his chest. At every turn he did what she asked and he gained no ground for it. He wanted her more desperately for obeying her. He could not win against his own weakness anymore than he could understand it.

"You are the one who said we cannot delay. That staying is dangerous. We have our journey to the city to negotiate. Our time here is done."

She waved him out of the privvy. He resisted her steely-eyed look for a moment before sighing and leaving. The door closed behind him.

* * *

Talos waited on shore, his jacket reclaimed as he walked along the spine of the ship. Two packs leaned next to one another. They seemed too small and inconsequential to be all their posessions.

He heard the rumble within the ship as Soren engaged the thrusters. The ship blinked into exsistence as the cloaking failed and all the energy was pulled into the engines. There was a loud sucking sound as flaps and vents were forced open and Soren overrode the commands. Talos' chest clenched knowing she was in the ship sinking quickly into the muck. He forced himself to swallow the acrid panic as the fuel ignited the sulfur. He could do nothing to help her.

"Come on, woman," he growled watching the ship tip up and the swamp heave.

Just as the desire to help overwhelmed him and he took a step closer to the ship the back hatch was thrown open and Soren threw herself onto the dome of the ship. She scrambled as the ship tilted more and her feet threatened to slip from under her. On either side was water that would burn her. Talos ran to meet her as she came skidding to the nose. She collided with him throwing her arms around his neck and he hauled them both backward. Soren panted hard against him as she clung to him.

With a final groan _the Ibu-Ibu_ plunged beneath the surface. Talos lifted his pack and turned his sights to the treeline. He felt Soren frozen behind him her eyes on the ripples on the surface.

"We have to move, Captain. We just lit up the Kree scanners like a Xandar freedom day celebration," she resisted as he tried to pull her away.

Soren felt sorrow and failure rise in her chest. _The Ibu-Ibu_ had been her sanctuary and her greatest achievement. She had hidden in its systems when it had all been too much. Indes had carried her to bed from beneath the console when she had first been adopted into the Ulohmu. It had been in its bunks that Tank and her had learned not to hate one another.

She felt tears collect in her eyes and she begged them to stay there. She could not bear crying in front of Talos. Not when she was trying to be cold. Not when she was trying to stop her heart from needing him.

"Looking won't raise her," he wrapped his hands around her shoulders and whispered low in her ear. Her breath caught and her chest ached from swallowing sobs. He pressed a kiss to her temple and she reached for his hand holding it for a moment. She let herself be weak and sag into his arms. "Your new home is waiting. Keep your eyes on the horizon."

She nodded and stepped away. She lifted her pack onto her shoulder. She was comforted by the small rattle from the bottom. A treasure saved. She shook the scanner and saw the beacon of the Ibu-Ibu fade slowly. She adjusted the frequency looking for a new signal. The scanner searched for the Transport Guild's custom channel. A sure sign of a city.

A new light blossomed.

She turned until the scanner showed she was heading towards it.

"How far?" Talos asked a hint of concern in his voice.

"Ten leagues straight. Further when we take terrain into account."

He nodded. "A long negotiation then."

"I've had longer," she shrugged setting off towards the treeline. She heard Talos snort behind her as the clinking of their packs made music together.

* * *

Beyond the swamp the terrain dipped steadily downward. They skirted down rocky outcroppings and watched for crevices where noxious fumes floated upward. Leaves covered the floor of the jungle, brown and brittle.

Talos hacked away a large stick and they took slow steps. Soren gripping his pack and only stepping where he prodded and the ground was firm.

Looming over them was the constant threat of the Kree. Knowing they were somewhere moving systematically through the swamps and marshes searching for something. Talos couldn't guess what could be hiding on this sweltering, festering planet that would be of any value. He didn't care. He was eager to leave it all behind. The Trill would need to face that alone. He knew what would come next. He had seen it on Rhondar before his reassignment to Cairn. The Kree who insisted they were the protectors of the galaxy, the breaker of chains, would visit horrors upon any planet that could increase their power.

The day was long and slow. Talos was aware as they stopped often that Soren was still recovering. The Council would want a report before nightfall. It was better this first day that they made camp early.

He stopped them by a ravine. Soren looked at her scanner then raised her brow at him.

"We haven't made it very far," she hovered as Talos put down his pack.

"It's not a race," he shrugged releasing the compressor that held the bag tight.

"We could make it another league before nightfall," she kept her pack on.

"You're wheezing," he answered her.

She crossed her arms, "I am fine."

"You need to rest, I need to call the Council."

"I-"

He cut her off with a look over his shoulder. She sighed as she shrugged off her pack.

They made camp quickly despite the dirty looks Soren threw his way. She was always pushing too hard and Talos did not have the tact to convince her to take care of herself.

She dug in his pack and pulled out his commlink. She brought it to a rock and laid out her tools. She unraveled the tail of wires she had used last time.

"What are you doing?" He asked as he pulled water up from the bottom of the ravine. He would need to boil it well and even then he was suspicious of it. The filtration pump he had brought from the ship was solar powered and wheezed as it sucked up water.

"Seems a shame to have this and not use it," she answered cracking open the case.

"What are you going to do?" He put the water to boil. He found he didn't care what she did to it, he was curious how she was going to do it.

"I don't know. I was just going to open it and see what it says to me."

He raised his brow at her, "did that gas go to your brain?"

She ignored him as she chewed her cheek. She twirled a small tool between her fingers. Talos watched her over the fire. In even her smallest moments she was mesmerizing.

"Call them now," she said breaking his revery.

"What?" He answered dumbly looking at the commlink whose guts were spread over the rock. Her eyes still searched over the wires and inner workings.

"I want to see it work."

Talos approached her cautiously, "blink a little and try to look less-" he wiggled his fingers at her trying to find the word for the gleam in her eye.

She rolled her eyes and sighed. "Will you please just call them?"

"Fine," he conceded with raised hands. He sat across from her on the ground. "This will be a full report. I can't put them off any longer. So no interrupting and no getting mad at me."

"Will you lie about us?"

"Only if it protects you."

She nodded, "then call."

He breathed out slowly and watched her eyes as he turned on the commlink. The wires glowed blue beneath her fingers as she scrambled the signal.

"General, we were starting to lose hope," the voice of the Council immediately floated from the comm. Instant and predatory, as if they had been hovering over him the whole time.

"It's not easy to get away without blowing my cover," Talos replied tightly.

"And yet you gave us no warning of the attacks in Sordona," the voice quipped. Soren looked up from her keys. Talos tried to read her eyes. He saw only confusion.

"You are certain they were the Ulohmu?" He asked carefully. Soren's fingers pushed the buttons angrily.

"Their message was very clear."

"Where did they attack?"

"A bomb at the Kree Embassy. Naturally, retaliation on Sordona was fast. The small colony we retained there is gone," the voice was cold and emotionless. The wiping out of a Skrull slum no more than a statistic. A constant shaking of the head and muttering 'it could have been worse.'

Soren's eyes burned into him, she held her tongue but willed him to defend them.

"There was no indication such an attack was planned. I am not in deep enough."

"Then you are wasting our time unless you can provide us something."

"We never rush a cover. No operation is expected to return results this quickly."

"That is because those covers are assignments from the Council," the voice shook with anger. Its first emotion. "You lost the assest on Cairn and the data you sent was incomplete. Then you go radio silent for days and when we do reach you, you have taken it upon yourself to follow the Ulohmu. None of this has earned patience or trust."

Talos watched Soren's focused face process everything she heard. Her breathing was shallow and she kept her eyes fixed entirely on the device. He needed to give them something but he could not think of anything that would not cost him dearly. He just needed time.

"We move soon. When we do I will tell you our destination." Soren looked at him with disgust. He held his hand up to her. She needed to trust him.

"Your locator is still blocked. This is information we could gain by turning on your tracker. Prove to us you aren't a defector. Prove your loyalty, General."

Talos felt his mouth move uselessly. Soren stood, careful of the wires that connected her, her fingers still moving. To Talos' shock she came to his side and curled herself into his lap. His arms wrapped around her instinctively. She moved her mouth against his ear.

"See, General, you have nothing. Prepare yourself for extraction."

"No," Talos protested, he looked at Soren nestled in his lap. She nodded. He licked his lips. "There are Kree Separatists on Rhondar."

The Council was silent for a moment. "That's impossible. Even if such a movement existed, the scrutiny on Rhondar would have driven them out."

"They are there. I can put them in contact with the Council. Just give me time."

Soren had stayed wrapped around him. Talos was nearly dizzy with the conflict inside him. She was helping him, giving him secrets he had not earned. She was doing it because he was dangerous to them. The chip inside his body threatened them all. He stiffened under the words she whispered in his ear.

"You want more time but we have lost patience. With all that has occurred you understand why you no longer have the Council's trust. You parents' legacy has bought you leniency, General but-"

"The Rhondarian Ecological Liberation Force is hiding them. They have two bombs currently undetonated built by the Ulohmu. If the Kree stay off planet they won't use them. If they return after the inquest then there will be two more attacks."

The commlink made no sound for a moment. Talos held his breath as the click of Soren's encryption continues staccato like a tiny heartbeat.

"Very well," the Council's voice said at last. "We will look into this information. If it turns out to be good you can have more time. The light of Skrullos still burns."

"The light still burns," Talos answered rotely.

The connection ended and Soren turned off the commlink. The wires went dark. She was turned away from him. They were both frozen by what had happened. The implication of the intel. She went to stand but Talos dragged her back into his lap.

"We aren't finished," he grit out into her shoulder. He was shaking. He was flooded by betrayal. Every time he thought he understood the game, Soren would play a card he didn't understand.

She pried uselessly at his fingers her hips rocking into his lap. He grunted as he tightened his grip.

"The Ulohmu caused the cave in?" He demanded. He wouldn't let her run from him.

"No," she protested, twisting in his arms so she could face him.

"They built bombs," he stated. She tried to get away, her boots churning up dirt but he pulled her down again so she was half straddling him. Her hands trapped between them shook his chest.

"We do things for credits. They would have gotten them anyway." Her voice was thick. She was angry at his anger.

"You sell weapons," he growled. He had almost believed their idyllic little motherhood act. He had let himself feel less than her because he had blood on his hands. He had begun to believe he was wrong.

"Sometimes. We procure things for the resistance forces on Kree territories. Only a fool would think that doesn't include tools of war."

"You encourage war." Their bodies rocked as she tried to get away but he pulled her back. Soren panted as her injured lungs drew breath. The friction grew between them. Talos could feel the same righteous fire pouring from her that he felt. He could also feel the tight winding of something else. Something awoken by the conflicting passion of their ideologies. Something that wanted to dominate, to silence, to win.

"We balance the scales," her breath came in huffs around the words. Talos pulled her more firmly against his thigh as she fought him. "We make sure no people are silently extinguished as Skrullos was."

"Skrullos still exists." He twisted them. Her back landed hard in the dirt and he trapped her there with his whole body. Her ribs dug into his chest as she lifted against him.

"No, it doesn't," she slid the words like a knife into him.

He kissed her. Anything to make whatever built between them ease. Anything to pull some surrender from her. He moved his hands from her and braced his elbow in the dirt so he could lick open her mouth more thoroughly. She moaned and he growled. The games couldn't continue. He moved from her mouth to her chin to her neck. He wanted all of her and he didn't care if she hated him as much as she wanted him or if they rutted into the dirt like animals.

"Tell me your mission on Cairn," she pushed the words through small sounds as his one hand searched for the opening to her pants.

"It doesn't matter," he growled as he pulled up her shirt. Her hand slid up his side beneath his coat and thought he might catch on fire.

The pain was instant. He snarled as her powerful hand clawed into the delicate connections in his shoulder. She rolled him easily as he gave beneath her.

"I don't need you to have two arms," she growled at him as his back hit the ground. She straddled him; dirt clinging to her, her skin flushed where his mouth had been, her shirt askew. He rolled his hips up so she had to sit higher to avoid the heavy brush of him between her thighs. Her thumb continued to grind divine pain from his shoulder joint.

"It failed."

"Why?" She eased down, her grip unrelenting, as she moved her hips so Talos saw stars.

"Temptress," he groaned. He wanted to laugh with the delirium of the sensation. With his one hand that still had feeling he gripped her thigh, opening her so her own teasing made gold light grow between them.

She released him and bent forward. Her elbows holding her mouth just above his as she breathed shakily. Her hips lifted and his hands moved gently over her sides.

"Are we done fighting, Little Soren?" He whispered into her ear.

"You started it," she huffed.

"Did you finish it?" He asked with a grin.

"Not even close," she rolled off of him. At that moment fire hissed as the pot began to boil over.

Talos groaned as he sat up to stop the pot from drowning the fire. He rolled his aching shoulder. To think he ever thought her peaceful.

* * *

  
The air between them was still heavy as it grew dark. Soren moved the packs into the tent as Talos cleared away dinner. She emerged through the low flap, brushing grit from her knees.

"There is only one bed in there," she observed. Talos split the water he had boiled some in the dishes lifting the last of the rations stuck there and the other half left for washing.

"One of us has to keep watch," he answered her. She soaked a cloth in the warm water and washed her face and hands. Talos was suddenly reminded of Emerys. The girl he could not save. Soren had known her. He wanted to ask her how she came to take her face but that would mean admitting he had been in Aloma University when she had. That he knew they killed the students and raided the camp.

"It's going to rain," she looked up at the sky.

"It won't rain."

"Do you want me to take the first shift?"

"I want you to rest. You nearly died this morning."

"Nearly dying is still mostly alive," she smiled at him. "Besides when will you sleep?"

"I will be fine," he built up the fire, ignoring her.

"Don't get wet," she shrugged ducking into the tent.

"It's not going to rain," he insisted as the flap closed behind her.

It was pitch black when the wind picked up and drops of rain started to fall. They hissed as they hit the wood and the ground. Of course even the rain burned. Talos moved quickly moving the pots and dishes inside the tent and gathering fire wood to hide from the rain. He was wet through and his skin ached as he finally crawled into the tent. Soren was asleep in the cot, her boots on the ground her clothes neatly rolled on top. Talos shrugged off his jacket, kneeling in the low tent. He spread it out to dry. He kicked everything off, cursing softly as the damp fabric stuck to him. He considered sleeping on the ground but the chill in the air and the cold waxed canvas made it seem like a bad idea.

Instead, he shuffled toward the bed and scooped Soren up. She made a mewling protesting sound as he settled himself beneath her.

"Is it my turn?" she murmured into his shoulder as she tried to rouse herself.

"Go back to sleep," he muttered. She was warm and soft against him. She didn't feel like the same woman who had almost dislocated his shoulder. He couldn't convince himself to hate her or distrust her. It was like signing his own death warrant by small degrees.

Had this been how his mother had felt in her final days? Painfully aware of the danger ahead but unable to change course?

"You're wet," Soren's arm snaked around his middle as she nestled into his shoulder.

"It's raining."

Soren made a small triumphant sound. Her bare legs tangled with his. He could feel the slow steady rhythm of her heart. He had never shared a bed with anyone before. He was uncertain of the etiquette. Especially when they were beautiful, tempting and had let him watch them come apart.

"We need more than one bed," she said throatily. She was starting to wake.

"You've already warmed this one up," Talos teased. She pinched him and he flinched. He wrapped her tighter in his arms and pressed a kiss to the crown of her head.

They were silent for awhile, the only sounds were breathing and heartbeats broken up by the snapping of the canvas in the wind and the batter of rain. Her hand came up to pillow her cheek. Her pinky rhythmically traced the small oblong scar over his heart.

"If I could get rid of this, would you stay?" She asked sleepily. It was an idle thoughtless question. Talos thought she would let him pretend he didn't hear her but he had.

"I am not keen on the idea of amateur surgery." He took her hand in his and slid the tip of her pinky between his lips. She made a small humming sound and settled tighter against him.

"Stop it," she muttered as he took another finger into his mouth, swirling his tongue around the tip.

"Stop what?" He asked tracing her fingertips over his lower lip.

"You know what," she answered stealing her hand back and flexing her damp fingers into his chest.

"We aren't on a sinking ship anymore," he looked down at her curled up around him. She lifted her head and pressed a kiss to the centre of his chest. Her lips soft against the hard bone of his sternum. He felt her tongue brush his skin as her mouth sucked. Her bottom lip dragging against him as she lifted away and turned her head to listen to what she did to his heartbeat.

"I am waiting for you, Talos" she answered. Her fingers counted his ribs and breathing felt dangerous. As if the spell would be broken.

"I am here."

"Not all of you," she replied. Talos rolled them so she was tucked into his side. His arms wrapped around her.

His hand caressed beside her ear and her breathing slowed. He could not give her all of him. If he let her past his careful shield he was scared of what she might find.

The rain continued as Talos fell asleep to the sound of it. In his dreams it mixed with the warm sound of Soren breathing and he was back in Zendinar.


	31. Chapter 31

Talos woke to birdsong and intermittent drips of water onto the tent's roof from the trees overhead. Soren had turned in the night so they were nestled against each other. Her head was tucked beneath his chin and his arm was around her waist. He eased his grip. He had been clinging to her singlet as if at any moment a great rocking wave would come and sweep them apart. He lifted his hand slowly and traced the shape of her ear along her skin. He did it over and over. He meditated beyond coherent thought. Only that they were the same green skin but different. She had, he realized this close, a halo of small dark freckles tracing behind her ear. Every small detail he could see captured him. Her true face, her features unaltered felt like a deeper intimacy than he thought himself capable of holding. He touched the curving cartilage with a hesitant finger, he liked the shape of it. The shell so distinctly Skrull. Something lost when they transformed.

"I can't decide," she murmured. His finger paused. "If you are trying to wake me up or keep me asleep."

His one arm was crooked beneath her. He spread his hand low on her belly. He knew he was pressing into her back side. She moved her hips forward away from him but that only moved her more firmly against his hand. She laughed, a soft huffing sound he felt in his chest.

"Why do I feel trapped?"

"Because I have caught you," he whispered to the soft tight skin behind her ear, his nose pressed against her. Around him the scent of dry earth after the rain rose up but he could smell her intertwined in it. She smelled of new growth. The scent left behind by vegetation bursting from the soil or wafted when leaves unfurled. She rolled in the circle of his arms so she was looking up at him, her head pillowed on his arm.

"Are all of the Skrullos Army this inefficient?"

He trailed his pinky beneath her basics, feeling the slope of her body change from the convex of her belly to the concave of her hips.

"I can be efficient, if you let me," he growled into her jaw. He wondered if she knew her hips tilted for him or if it was instinct. She pushed him back. Her hand on his skin reminding him he had stripped last night, that so little remained between them.

"I meant we should be packing up already," she slid away from him. He let her go.

"I woke first," he caught her hand against his chest. He lay on his back as she sat on the edge of the cot.

"And look how you used your time. No discipline."

"Anyone who could see you like this would know I am exercising amazing discipline," he protested as she stood bare foot and long legged beneath the sagging canvas of the tent. The blue dawn bringing everything into soft focus.

She tossed his shirt to him. Cold but dry. His pants followed. He pulled them on, feeling the cold rouse him from the languid warmth of waking up next to someone.

Their days fell into a pattern. The journey through the jungle was slow but they were beginning to learn the signs of danger. They did not share a bed again, each taking turns keeping watch in the dark cold nights.

The changing of the guard signalled by Soren creeping beneath the covers, warming her cold limbs against him as he groaned. She did not tell him sleep did not come easy knowing he was out there. She did not beg him to let her in. To allow her to crouch in his heart so she would know he was safe.

She had hoped futilely that being so close to him would dull the novelty. That her heart would not flutter every time he slid his hands over where she was cold. That his low grumbling complaints would cease to be endearing. He never pressed her for more. She had given him her ultimatum. Her requirement for giving into him and he had surrendered to its impossibility.

They would reach the City soon. Their path had become easier, groomed by use. They stayed off main trails when they could. Sometimes they would hear parties of Trill and would wait for them to pass.

No one exchanged gossip on the Kree and Soren had to assume it was because they didn't know they were there.

The night felt full now. No longer eerie or empty. There was a safety to it. She argued that was why she had drifted off.

She awoke in a room she had never seen before. Small and tight with water damaged plaster walls. Littered around the room were scraps of childhood. The walls marked by waxy drawings. Some places they were smeared by handprints. The bed was small too. She looked out behind a ratty curtain and the city splayed out. More houses, low and similarly dilapidated filled her view but beyond and above were tall white buildings.

The room and the street were empty but Soren could feel currents of fear low to the ground. As if unseen people cowered there. She reached out in hopes of brushing their invisible shoulders. She wanted to calm whatever it was that was so scared.

She pressed her hands into the hard mattress and looked beneath the bed. There was no one but the fear stuck to her throat and made her skin ache. Someone was bracing for pain, for loss, for the inevitable and repeated tragedy.

And yet the room was empty.

Soren woke beside the dying fire. The fear and ache still clung. She looked around half expecting for a stranger to be beside her but she was alone. She reached out and knew where she would find the source of the fear.

She stood on stiff legs and walked in hurried tight steps to the tent. Talos was on the cot, laying on his back. His chest was tight and his hands fisted into the blanket. It had been his dream she had been in. He made no noise but his breath hissed and his body was tight as a bow string. She wanted to wake him but it seemed an even greater trespass to admit what she had seen. His heart was open to her. She could feel it quivering in the air above his chest but she felt the great betrayal that would be plumbing his emotions without his consent.

She kicked off her boots and shrugged off her jacket. She needed skin and vulnerability. She stepped out of her pants leaving her linen shirt hanging, brushing her thighs. She slid beneath the covers. Moving her legs against each other like crickets. She thought of skin moving against skin. The comfort of touch. She opened herself to whatever poured off of him. What he reached out with, she absorbed. She pulled it in and rubbed her hands against her skin. She thought of easing and relaxing. She breathed. She willed Talos to swim to the surface.

"I am here, Talos," she whispered to him on her side, balanced on the thin slice of cot. "Come to me."

He pulled in a jagged breath as his body flinched awake. His hand grabbed blindly for her. His fingers dug into her and dragged her close as if she were driftwood. Brittle and hollow. Open chambers to absorb the ocean in his chest. He could sink her if he wanted.

She was half beneath his body as his eyes focused on her. She tried to soften her gaze. To lose the momentary fear as if she had been caught in some treasonous act.

"You were dreaming," she breathed into the heated space between them.

"Did you come to watch?" He snarled at her.

"I was worried," she reached for him. Now he was awake she could touch him. He shook her off.

"Or did you come to skim what you could? Are you planning to blackmail me, Little Soren? Trick me before we part?"

"I haven't tried to bring you to my side," she protested. "I cannot make that choice for you."

"Do you think I don't feel every time you try to slip in? What weakness do you think you will find there?"

He was still caught in the emotions of his dream, still pulled by a frightened tide.

"I cannot be your woman, Talos."

He went rigid, his fingers flexed.

"Who asked you to be?" He ground out the words.

"Have I misunderstood you?" She was suddenly unsure. She had thought. She had been so certain. Her eyes searched his face.

He kissed her. It was hard, unrelenting. Dizzying because she had lost the string. She pushed him back hard. He released her mouth but kept his forehead pressed to her. The vulnerability of their skin touching burned. She had sought to comfort him but he was a man who would not be soothed. His heart had begun a battle in sleep he wanted to end in waking.

"How can I make someone my woman when I cannot trust them? When they make me weak?" He shook her shoulders so she tensed.

He had felt her in his dreams. He had felt her but could not see her. She was searching. He did not know what secret she thought to find but she was just like her witch mother who had awoken Zendinar in him and now he could not bury it again.

"You can trust me," her voice was tight and breathless. He was crushing the wind out of her. He was hurting her. He wanted to hurt her more. He wanted her to fear him as he feared her.

"Trust you to what? Sift through my mind while I sleep? Press yourself against me so I forget your lies?"

"What lies have I told that have not matched yours?" She was trying to calm him but he did not want calm or reason. "We both know I am not made for seduction. I have never been able to hide from you for long."

"You were in my dream," he repeated. He still pressed her into the cot that was not meant to take this abuse. It creaked like a wounded animal. It made sounds of surrender she would not make. "What were you looking for?"

"You invited me in. You called to me and I thought I was wanted," her voice broke with anger. "Tell me what you suspect of me so I can at least defend myself."

"You were on Cairn. You pillaged and you killed with the others. Now our people die on Sordona and you expect me to forget it. To believe someone who would kill for their cause, who would steal, who sell destruction to feed their people, is innocent?"

Soren looked shocked.

"We came from Sordona to Cairn. We only stopped to rescue Thwane after the Kree burned his monastery. We left no one behind. We made no allies. The Kree decimate the religion. They build portals for the SI in places of worship. They have robbed the people of their beliefs. I would have fought beside the rebels of Sordona but a greater evil waited on Cairn."

"Fought for money," Talos rolled away from her. Sitting up and dragging with him the heat and cover. Soren eased away, her ribs aching.

"When the resistance offer money we take it. Only because it is the only way to survive. The crimes you think you know on Cairn are not what they appear."

"What part do you deny?" He scoffed at her.

"All of it. And none of it," she stood on shaking legs and found his coat. Vadir's coat. She knew he watched her as she drew the folded paper from the inside pocket. She unfolded it and traced whatever was there. "You did not check the pockets very thoroughly."

She had his full attention. There was a stillness in the tent. A held breath. Her voice held unshed tears.

"What would I have found?" He asked.

"Will you tell me your mission on Cairn or am I to be the only one exposed?" She pressed the paper to her chest and it crinkled.

"It doesn't matter."

She turned to him, "you keep saying that but you pretend to know my misdeeds. It matters to me, if it is a matter of what you heard or what you saw."

"I was at Aloma University. A Kree named Woh-Lar fell under my observation. I failed to obtain his research."

"And why did you leave without the Elder's permission?"

"I had been compromised." He looked away from her. "I was not thinking clearly."

"The Kree Separatists on Rhondar villified Woh-Lar. They saw his drive as the cause of the cave in. They see his single-mindedness as a sign of unKree-like passion. They watch the stripping of resources and the hollowing out of planets as lacking foresight. As illogical. They wish to break from the greed and corruption. They even see the hunting of our kind as a waste of resources. They believe the fixation on our destruction when we have already been crushed is a sign of weakness."

"And those are your allies? Kree who see us as already dead?"

"I do not need to agree to accept help. I believe our two desires can exist in the same truth. Their help meant I had access to Woh-Lar's research."

Talos measured his words carefully, "did you betray that help?"

"I set them free. I took on their suffering and their fear so they did not have to bear it any longer."

Talos moved so quickly Soren barely had time to flinch before he captured her.

"You killed her," he stated. He was disgusted with himself. For being so faithless.

"I carried so much guilt after we left," she looked into his face as if it held some secret. She pressed the paper into his chest. "I worried I had left him in danger."

Talos let her go to take the paper. He turned it. His eyes blinked in the darkness. It was a painting. An illustration torn from a book. That alone betrayed its origin. It was a bird with a curling red tail and green feathers. He traced it, mesmerized. Enzo liked birds.

Talos was without speech. He covered his mouth with his hand. His mind reaching for the impossible explanation.

"Have we been letting guilt poison us? Am I right about you? About the confusion between us?"

"She is dead," Talos crumpled the paper and dropped it. Soren tensed as if it was her heart. "I saw the blood."

"Kree blood. Woh-Lar's blood. He came for her. For me. I had been expecting him. He had done it before, to Emerys. Trapped her in shame and self hatred. I knew he would come for me too. It was a game, the constant threat of it. The sly remarks," Soren shuddered. Colder than the night air. "He was toying with Enzo too. His crush amused him, but when he thought Emerys had returned the affection. The jealousy. The way he despised her. It was like sinking in sulfur."

Talos growled, "was it only ever you?"

"I am sorry," Soren's voice cracked and tears fell at last. "You weren't part of the plan."

"Did he touch you?"

Soren looked away. Her arms wrapped around herself. Talos felt sick.

"I thought I could let him. I thought I could buy more time but then he was over me. And he had such ugliness in him."

Talos remembered the knife to the hilt in Woh-Lar's chest. Talos realized now he must have sunk onto the blade as he died. He imagined Soren lying beneath the bleeding man. Scared, sickened. Her nightdress rucked up by his wandering hands. He wanted to hold her but he couldn't move.

"What was the plan?"

"To set up the camp to be raided. To disappear with the others that night but that could cast doubt on Enzo. I had told them not to send him."

"So you kissed him? Is that always your back up plan?"

She smiled weakly, "it worked, but then I had no way home."

"And the students? What of them?"

"You have seen Thalla's power. A necessary delay so we could destroy their research."

"The blocker was shit," Talos felt like his head was spinning. Soren took a step towards him. 

"How did you know?"

"I was under the desk, breaking the projector."

Soren laughed. A delirious broken sound.

"Have you hated me from the beginning?"

"Hatred would have been easier," Talos muttered as he rubbed a hand against his face. Everything seemed so clear and neat. Every doubt answered and yet it all felt confused like a dream.

She approached him cautiously. He looked her up and down. Her bare legs and shivering body. It was cold he realized. He reached for her, rubbing her arms through the linen. Warming her.

"He didn't hurt you?"

"I hurt him worse," she could not help leaning into him. She was so cold.

"My fearless Captain," he whispered fondly to her. She reached for him, her thumb brushing over the raised scar of his implant. Talos paused. "We are not out of secrets yet."

"How boring would that be?" She smoothed her hands across his stomach, wrapping her arms around.

"I am no fool," he growled. He pulled her hands from around his waist. "You are only trying to keep warm."

"Do you like being cold?" She raised her brow. The tent was low but he scooped her up regardless. Her legs bent over his arm and her head curled into his shoulder. The cot only a pace from where they stood. He lay her down and pulled the blanket over her. He tried to step away but she caught his wrist. "Stay."

"I can't." He pulled her hand away.

"Why not?"

"I hurt you," he brushed gentle fingers over her brow.

"You didn't mean to."

"I did. Don't let a brute like me near you, Soren. I don't bring happiness with me."

She caught his hand and brought it to her lips. She kissed each fingertip as if she was absolving him of his anger, his brutality.

"I don't want to be brought happiness. I don't want something perfect and easy that I am scared to break. I want to grow my own for myself. I want to find it."

"I don't know where to look for it," Talos insisted as his traitorous hand slipped beneath the covers.

"Inside the tent is a good place to start," she arched into the fingers that brushed her ribs. Her voice shook a little.

"I am cold now," he argued his hand slipping lower. She hissed as he found skin.

"I will keep you warm," she insisted. He gave in.

He slid beneath the covers gathering her close.

"When we reach the city, we will find somewhere with a proper bed," he kissed her temple.

"And what will we do there?" She teased wrapping one leg around his. The air between them warming.

"Negotiate."


	32. Chapter 32

Talos woke up alone. He wondered if the night before had been a dream. A trick of the senses to make everything alright. To forgive his faithless ways and give him leave to love and desire without regret. The paper was no longer on the ground. No piece of the night was left except the double heat caught beneath the covers that told him Soren had not been gone long.

He found her outside building the fire up for breakfast. Their meager rations were almost depleted. If they didn't reach the City today then they had hungry days ahead.

"You're awake," she observed without turning her head. She fed small bundles of twigs into the coals.

"It's a bad habit of mine," he answered her, closing the distance between them.

"Waking up?" She laughed wiping the bits of grit from her palms as she stood.

"Waking up alone," he clarified, pulling her against him. She let him, bending back so she could keep her eyes on him.

"Talos," she warned as he settled her firmly against him, his hands moving beneath her jacket.

"Never leave without waking me again," his voice was soft but he could not resent its weakness. If they were to part in the City. If she didn't feel the same way as he felt about her, he wanted to greet their parting with open eyes. He wanted her promise she would not leave in the night as his parents had.

"Maybe I tried," she wrinkled her nose. He bent down and brushed his nose against hers. He felt her small laugh beneath his fingers. "You sleep soundly for a spy in bed with a woman he doesn't trust."

"I would like to trust her," he lifted one hand to caress her jaw.

"She has wanted to trust you for a very long time," Soren answered closing her eyes as he touched her. He never treated her gently. He would start. The air between them cleared he would allow her to be precious. He would go into these final days with no regrets.

He leaned closer to her, stealing the warm air she exhaled.

"We should pack and get ready to leave," she whispered to him.

"We aren't in that much of a hurry," Talos growled lowly to her.

"You have no discipline," she teased him.

"You can keep track of time. Count in your head," he brought his other hand up, his fingers laced behind her neck.

"What should I count to?" Her hands curled into his jacket.

"One hundred."

She raised her brow and blinked up at him.

"Pick a smaller number, General."

"Thirty," he pulled her closer. He was hovering above her lips and her eyes had closed again. He didn't have her permission yet. He would stop stealing kisses.

"Lower," her mouth quirked. Did she know she was irresistible?

"Ten?" He offered.

"Fine," she agreed schooling her face into a serious look. Talos laughed.

"You look like you are about to be executed."

"I am already counting," she tilted her chin defiantly. He kissed her. Quickly. Then slowly, angling his head so he could hold her close. He felt her whole body tighten, her grip on his lapels drawing her even closer. She opened her mouth so he could taste her. He made a small noise as she melted into him. Only him. Only he knew her real flesh. It made him nearly feral with longing.

"How far did you get?" He asked against her lips. She had gone still, something vibrating beneath her skin.

"Eight," she murmured.

"Plenty of time," he growled. He kissed her again, deeply and gently. He wanted to coax her away from the fire. Maybe back to the tent. His intentions narrowed even as he felt her hands push him away.

"Ten," she breathed as he let her go. "We need to keep moving."

"Why hurry towards the unknown?" Talo bartered. "We don't even know if anyone will do trade with us."

"Where there is no compassion there are always credits," Soren shrugged as she stepped quickly and finally away from him. He watched her as he pulled breakfast from his pack. She efficiently packed the remaining pieces and then kicked out the tent pegs.

"How is it I am somehow cooking breakfast again?" Talos called go her as she dropped her pack beside him.

"Because I don't cook," she smiled at him stealing his mug of coffee.

"The Brilliant Soren can't cook?" Talos teased her.

"I pour things into other things and stir. It gets me by and there isn't normally anyone to complain."

"Do you often travel alone?" Talos was curious. He assumed her home was on the Ibu-Ibu with the others. She nodded into his cup.

"When Drüz, Giz's father, became too sick to do the supply runs I inherited the Fedjaeger. It is better to have a small crew in case we get caught. When you found us I had more aboard than usual."

Talos contemplated her words. Anyway he spun them he did not like the picture they painted. He stole back the mug, trading it for breakfast.

"Why was that?" He asked her. She narrowed her eyes over her bowl.

"Are you information gathering, Talos?"

"Some would consider it expressing interest," Talos retorted topping up his mug.

She stole his mug back and he let her, he would take any small intimacy she would allow. He poured another mug. He felt her eyes on him as if deciding what he had earned knowing.

"I'll cloak the ship," she said softly, stirring her breakfast.

"What?"

"If you think you can use it to find me again. You won't."

He stiffened slightly. The thought had occurred to him that if she was often alone she would be easier to overtake. That he could find the Fedjaeger again.

"Besides it won't be my ship for much longer," she added.

"Why is that?" He was tense. He wanted her answer to be that they would be together.

"By rights it's Giz's ship. He already resents that Indes tasked me with the supply runs. I think he envisioned them traveling together once he was older and Reema would let him," she had a sad look in her eyes as she stirred and stirred. "I will give it to him once he turns eighteen. He can either stay and help us or leave and find his own way."

Talos reached his hand out and covered hers. He wanted to say something comforting. Something that assured her she hadn't earned the boy's ire.

"Breakfast is better when eaten than played with," he said instead.

She smiled and they finished their food in peace. Talos couldn't help the way his mind drifted back to his father. To his childish visions of them serving side by side, his imagination never stretching past the streets of Zendinar. His death had felt like a betrayal of those plans even though Talos had forgotten them until now.

Dishes stacked, Soren began digging through his pack again.

"I thought we were in a rush?" Talos protested as she withdrew his commlink.

"Breakfast gave me an idea," she smiled at him, too sweetly, too persuasively. He had a feeling he would not like her idea.

She cracked open the hard shell with familiarity. Talos felt immediate kinship with the device he had carried for ten years, Soren was always digging into him as well. She removed the small comm from her pocket and wired it in.

"Isn't that a little redudant?" Talos raised her brow at the small round appendix she had quickly skewed into the guts of the commlink.

"These devices aren't meant to call other channels. Two one way streets make a road," Soren shrugged. "Besides he will recognize this beacon."

"That doesn't mean anything," Talos tensed as he always did when she activated his commlink. The wires glowed and her fingers began to type quickly. "Who are you calling?"

"A friend," she murmured as Talos heard the whirr of the open channel.

"Not the best time, Love. I have company," a smooth round voice answered. Talos sucked his teeth slightly at the warmth in his voice. At the way Soren smiled as her fingers kept moving.

"I need a ship and a safe place to stay on Trillium," Soren answered him ignoring his teasing.

"For how many?" The voice was all business, the warmth there but the playfulness dropped.

"A ship for all of us, lodging for two."

"When do you arrive?"

"We are already on planet. The Ibu-Ibu is gone and the only thing I can tell you about the City we are approaching is the Guild Transport number."

"I've worked bigger miracles with less," the bedroom voice was back as Soren added the scanner to the tangle of wires. Something in Talos' blood boiled. Something dark and forgotten. A desire he had never given name to but that Soren had charmed to the surface.

"Anastari? You are in the jungle, my Sweet. I hope you have a weapon or some beast may gobble you up."

Soren's eyes flicked to Talos on instinct. He swallowed a growl. "They haven't given me trouble yet."

"Lucky for you I do have a paramour there. Their family owns a lovely little inn. I will wire you the coordinates. I left with just enough grace she will help you if you give her my name."

"And what name did you give her?" Soren raised her brow, Talos cheered her cynicism. He didn't like this bastard's voice.

"You know me too well. Tell her their Rooka needs a favour."

Talos rolled his eyes.

"You live a charmed life," Soren teased.

"And I am always willing to share the charm. Be safe until we meet again. I hope it won't be long."

The connection closed and Soren powered down the commlink quickly. She pulled the wires and devices out. Talos felt similarly crammed back into too tight a case.

He watched her as she packed everything away, her motions charged with intention. She swung the pack onto her back and looked at the scanner.

"So that's the plan now? Waltz into the City and hope his name means something? Who was that anyway?"

"A friend."

"A friend?" Talos repeated uselessly.

"This is how we survive. Friends of friends of friends. There is compassion every where if we know where to look."

* * *

As Anastari came into view Soren pulled out a scarf and veiled everything but her eyes. The fabric moved softly over her and Talos could only think about her eyes. He had dreamed about them for so long. He could barely believe he had found the woman in the photo. Talos kept glancing over at her. He wondered if he should tell her the Council had her picture. He wondered if knowing he had been haunted by her on Cairn would make her more or less likely to stay with him.

As they entered the City he longed for a proper disguise. He pulled up his hood to hide his features but it didn't feel like enough. The crowd pressed in on him as if he were a peeled sour bora fruit, every glance stung. Soren seemed unphased, her shoulders relaxed. She walked ahead of him the scanner clutched in her hands.

Everything in Anastari was large, meant for the Trill. The doorways were round shapely hollows each large enough to fit two side by side. The paths were wide too. Soren guided them into the deep heart of the city. Buildings towered above and passing carts were loaded with wares that stunk of the sulfur swamps. The road was cobbled, each red stone worn to pink in places.

"Where is this place?" Talos muttered catching hold of Soren's arm before she could step in front of a cart. Her eyes were glued on the scanner.

"We're close," she answered. For a moment she was braced against him. Her pack digging into his ribs. His skin felt too tight. She turned her head to glance down an alley. Even at midday it was dark, ripped awnings draped between the tight walls. Talos didn't know how a Trill would even make it through. A small sliver of sunlight illuminated the badly faded sign.

"A lovely little inn, eh?"

"Beggar's can't be choosers," Soren answered him ducking into the alley. Talos followed her, his senses on high alert.

As they approached the sign came into closer view. To Talos' surprise it was written in Basic. Rest for the Weary. He eyed it suspiciously. The salacious voice of the stranger and the unusual location made Talos unsure what sort of place this was.

Soren looked back and forth before she opened the door. Talos was grateful she showed at least a little hesitation. He followed her inside, above them heavy bells jangled. Inside was white tile and stucco walls. Red curtains separated the front room from the back. Red grit had worked its way into the seams and face of the tile so everything had a faintly pink tinge. The room was heavily perfumed, Talos thought it might be to cover the constant smell of sulfur.

He grabbed her arm again, he was about to say they should leave when a woman stepped from behind the worn red partition. She was very tall, with curving broad shoulders. Not quite shaped like Trill. Narrower almost. Her face had some of the dark speckled purple colouring but her features were not quite right. Talos thought she could almost be Xandarian and Trill. She smiled at them in an enigmatic and alluring way.

"Hello," she said softly. "Are you looking for a room?"

Soren broke away from Talos and walked to the counter. If the woman cared that beneath her veil Soren was green she didn't so much as blink.

"Yes please. And directions to your ship yards."

"It it is eighty lownar a night," the woman tilted her head gently. Almost as if asking for money embarrassed her.

"I have credits," Soren answered digging in her pockets.

"I am sorry. We do not deal in the immaterial. We are of this plane," there was a slight ironic lilt to the woman's voice. Talos hovered behind. He had known they would find a reason not to help them.

Soren tensed but she smiled. "I have no lownar, our ship became distressed and we find ourselves without many resources. Your Rooka sent us. He said there was help to be found here."

Talos held his breath as the woman's whole demeanour melted in front of them. Her smile became more genuine.

"A friend of Rooka? That is entirely different," she stepped behind the counter, she towered over Soren. She waved with one hand and the Skrulls followed her.

There was a clever staircase concealed behind a panel. The woman lead them up it, her shoulders so tight they only barely missed scraping the plaster stucco.

"If you don't mind my asking," Talos began. Soren shot him a look over her shoulder. He carried on anyway, "what type of place is this?"

The woman laughed a low knowing laugh.

"We are a place all kinds come for privacy and retreat. Our guests don't stay long but they always find what they are looking for," the woman glanced over her shoulder. She looked at them with a glimmer in her eye. Talos felt the hot feeling beneath his collar at the way Soren looked down.

They reached the top landing. A narrow hallway continued, small diamond shaped windows were filled with coloured glass. The light streaming through painted the hallway in reds and purples. The woman moved aside a forest green damask curtain to reveal a door. The curtain was worn thin in places but the door was sturdy. She passed a key over the lock and the door swung open.

"Thank you," Soren ducked her head demurely her veil swaying. The woman handed her the key.

"My name is Ishna. You will find me down stairs if you need anything."

She left them in the hallway and Soren took trepidatious steps into the room. Talos followed her close behind. He pushed down his hood as she pulled the veil away. He felt tingles beneath the surface of his skin. Tight crystal feelings grinding against each other. His body so clenched he could hear his own heartbeat.

The room was basic, but more luxurious than anywhere either had stayed in years. There were no windows, the room faced the interior of the building. The floor was flat tiles as the lobby had been, lighter without the pink. In places the glaze still shone. The tile continued a halfway up the wall with blue swirling trim. There was a table for taking meals and a room off the side with the bath. Prominently featured but tucked in the corner on a dais was a bed large enough for Trills. The sheets clean and white. The place smelled of the incense below, as if decades of smoke had drifted through the floor boards.

Soren was putting down her pack, steadfastly not looking at the bed. Talos put his by the door. He drifted around the edges of the room. He felt a little vortex form between them. He wondered if Soren knew how sweet the panic was that rolled off her.

"So," he started. He shrugged off his jacket. Unclipping various things from his belt and dropping them on the table. Each made a different sound. Soren's eyes flicked to him over and over but she would not hold his gaze. "We're here."

"Our deal is at an end," she answered.

"Your deal with Hoban is at an end. You have put off brokering our deal," Talos came around the table to her. She froze. There was nowhere for her to run to.

"There is no time. I need a ship," she sounded breathless as she turned to follow him with her eyes. That put her back to the table. Her thighs bumped into it as he walked towards her. He grinned.

He didn't want to scare her but toying with her, teasing her, was irresistible.

"And then let me guess, you will need to deliver the ship. Then you will need to cloak the ship. Then they will need supplies for their ship. The work will never be at an end," he walked closer to her. She shrunk away from him slightly. He wouldn't touch her if she was afraid.

"You joke, Talos, but the Kree are here."

She made to push past him but he caught her arm. He looked at her seriously.

"Tell me what you want, Soren."

She looked at his arm for a moment before she shook him off. She was walking to the door already pulling her scarf into place.

"I want to keep my family safe," she paused and looked at him pleadingly.

"I meant from me," he clarified his voice rough from holding his patience. "Don't you think we have circled that question long enough?"

"Let's find a ship first," she answered turning to the door again fumbling for the key in her pocket. She was forgetting the scanner he realized. This wasn't about the ship this was about running away.

"I didn't see the resemblance at first but you are just like her."

"Who?" She looked back at him.

"Emerys was always running away from me too."

"I am not running away. There are more important things to worry about," she took an angry step towards him. Then another.

"Not to me."

"I cannot be your woman," Soren repeated firmly to him.

"Why not?" He took a step toward her. "You feel it. You pick up whatever this is between us and you meddle in it as if it was another gadget for you to play with. I am not some toy soldier for you to wind up and let loose. The people I work for are dangerous, I am dangerous and you need a plan, Soren."

"I won't be with someone who hides himself from me," she swallowed the passion that wanted to choke her.

"We agreed our secrets-"

"I don't mean secrets," she pressed her knuckles against her sternum. "I mean the shield you wear to keep me out. I won't give you everything when you will show me nothing."

Talos felt rocked. He understood now. Clarity like a lightning strike. It had never been about avoiding him. The next step. The next task without slowing to settle things between them was to keep them together a little longer. To give him a chance to give her what she needed. To stave off rejection.

"My mother had no empathic skills," Talos found the words tumbling from him. He needed her to understand as he now understood. "She did know physical empathy. She could shift with unbelievable infallible skill. She taught me every thing she knew before she died. She locked me in this armour so my disguise would be even more perfect."

"How did she die?" Soren said quietly.

"She was tasked with assassinating an ambassador. She fell in love with him instead. When the deception was revealed he killed her," Talos was cold. He had long ago learned to be factual about his parents and their deaths.

Soren closed the gap between them. She wrapped her arms around his neck and held him tightly. Talos froze. He did not know what he had said for her to cling to him this way. To make some warm and glowing feeling radiate from her.

"I am sorry," she turned her head so she could speak into his ear.

"Don't be. She failed her mission. That is what happens," the words tasted more like sawdust than they ever had. When they had first been said to him when he entered training they had stung like camphor but had left him wonderfully cold and numb. He could avoid death if he never failed.

"No," Soren answered softly. "She was your mother. She was not her mission. She was not her mistakes. She was someone who loved you. Miss her, Talos. She deserves it."

He held Soren tighter as if digging fingers into her flesh would stop the pricking of water behind his eyes.

"What if I can't be without the shield she gave me? Can I never have you?" He asked into the crook of her neck.

She stepped away from him and he felt cold without her.

"I only need you to want to live without it, Talos."

"I don't want to live a life where everything burns," he said hoarsely. She smiled sadly at him.

"Is your life so comfortable now?" She teased him. She passed him and lay her scarf on the table. She shrugged off her jacket as well. "What of your father?"

"You know he died when they burned the slum on Zendinar."

"I meant what were his abilities?"

"I don't know the full range," Talos answered. His memory pressed on him hot and uncomfortable. They were in the dim lit kitchen. He was eating dinner, his mother picking off his plate as she cleaned her blaster. His father at the stove. She was teasing him and he was laughing. "He was more empathic. I don't remember."

Soren pulled off her boots. Talos' mouth went dry. She reached her hand to him.

"Do you trust me?"

He licked his lips, "I do."

He took her hand unsure how to do anything else.

"Will you let me meddle?" She asked her mouth quirking as she pulled him towards the bed. Talos stumbled as he kicked off his boots as he let her lead him.

"At this point I don't have the will to stop you."  
Soren laughed, they reached the bed. Soren stopped beside it. Looking from him to the bed, worrying her lip as if she had only gotten this far in her imagination. Talos reached for her, "I am starting to learn this look. Should I be grateful your tools are across the room?"

"I am trying to make a plan," she answered. She tapped her finger against her mouth. Talos was fixated by her. He stood helplessly, his barefeet cold on the tile floor. "I think you have abilities you haven't even considered."

"I have been trying very hard to demonstrate them for you," Talos growled at her. Soren narrowed her eyes at him. He scooped her up and deposited her on the mattress. She laughed again. He loved how it sounded. How it tasted to hear it. He followed her, tangling their legs together.

"I meant empathic abilities."

"I am nothing like you," he whispered tracing the sensitive flesh behind her ear. Soren's knees clenched against his thigh.

"No," she sighed. She tilted her hips, cradling him against her. "But you sense more than you admit."

Maybe he did. It was impossible for him to know how others perceived the world. She hooked her leg in his and rolled him gently.

"I know you can open yourself, Talos. I have felt it," she stroked his cheek and he turned his head to kiss her palm.

"Are you referring to our previous experiments?" He teased her. Soren sat up covering her face. Shame like a coin in his mouth rolled off of her. He sat up with her pulling her hands away. "You don't get to regret it. I won't let you."

Soren was blushing beneath her hands. She swallowed. "I sort of meant that. You have reached for me before. I know you have. This facade takes more effort than you admit."

"What is your plan then?" He asked softly.

"I will trade you," she answered. Still shy. Still nervous.

"Trade me what?"

She kissed him, gently. Her hands gripped his so he couldn't deepen it. Only prelude.

"A kiss for a little bit of your armour," she licked her lips and Talos thought anything less than being fused atom to atom was too much distance between them.

"Just a kiss?" He asked her.

"Whatever you want," her voice was tight.

"Have you done this before?" He asked her. She looked away from him.

"I am twenty years old. I understand-"

He cut her off rolling her again.

"You don't understand. It's not about what I want. It's what we want. Together." His eyes searched hers. Had someone misused her before?

"We're trading. A piece of your armour. A physical act. Take a piece of me and give me a piece of you. That is what I want," she stroked his cheek again as he pressed his forehead to hers. He could give little pieces he thought. He knew how to loosen the hold. He let his hands skim beneath her shirt.

"I want you wearing less," he grunted.

"Earn it," she kissed his cheek.

Tank often told Soren she was no fun. She rarely drank but she felt drunk on the power Talos gave her. The way he wanted her.

"Give me a hint what you want. Help me, Soren."

"I just want to know what you feel right now," she pressed her palm to his sternum. His hand moved to the fastening of her pants. Soren held her breath as his fingers slid the button free. She felt dizzy as if her world was being held together by the fastenings of her clothes.

"Let me have a task to focus on," he breathed his mouth hovering above hers. She nodded as his hand slipped beneath her clothes. He moved slow. He shook with the effort of it. Soren had never felt someone else touch her this way. She could barely breathe even as her heart beat hard. Talos made heavy noises into her shoulder as he weighed her down. True to his word small cracks in his shield allowed blood red passion to pour out. It moved from him thickly. Soren almost thought it would drip hot onto her stomach.

She did not know what her pleasure looked like to him but he must be chasing it. He could predict too well when it was all too much. His fingers withdrawing to stroke other places.

"Are you alright?" He asked. She nodded with her tongue pressing to the roof of her mouth. He kissed her, his tongue cold slipping into her mouth. She wrapped her arms around his neck. She kissed him back, curving her stomach away from him. Pleasure combined with his small sliver of feeling was more than she was accustomed to. She felt like a live wire. "We can go slower."

"Just don't stop," she pleaded. Terrified she would scare him away.

"Too late for that, I am yours."

Talos felt the small wave of white hot pleasure the words invoked in her. It terrified him and electrified him that she may want all of him. Soren hummed against his lips. He wondered if that feeling had slipped through. She rolled him so she was above.

She pulled her shirt off, the loose linen a hindrance as it caught and pinned beneath their bodies. She followed it with the singlet holding the fabric in front of her. Talos' eyes could set her on fire. He curled his body up, pulling away his shirt. He wrapped his arms around her and she dropped her shirt so her arms were around his neck. Their skin, where it touched, felt like it shivered and vibrated. Talos moved his hands along her spine over and over until her breath caught.

"No need to be nervous," he whispered to her. She thought she could sob at the wicked cocktail of shame, desire and fear that was shaking inside her. She felt exposed but adored. She could feel turning circles within circles inside Talos. Each spiral an individual twisting desire. She wanted to feel raw against him.

"I should have turned out the light," she mumbled. He reached behind him and took a pillow. He slid it cold and smooth between their bodies. He untangled them and stood up. Soren watched him as she knelt with her hips wide and the pillow clutched over her. He crossed the room and with a click they were in the dark. Soren felt like she could breathe again. She felt the bed dip as Talos returned to her.

"Better?" He asked carefully sliding the pillow from her arms. She let him.

"Thank you," she murmured feeling the weight of all her inexperience. She was not seductress. In the dark, she had no body she reach out to him with her heart.

"I would never deny you anything. Even if it meant losing the pleasure of seeing you."

"Then you will have to learn to feel me," she answered.

The darkness made everything clearer even as it hid her. His eyes adjusted slowly so he began to see the shadow of her on the bed. Talos removed his pants pushing them down his legs. He ached for her. He both could not stand the idea of this moment ending and was desperate for some release. Soren slid away from him. He felt it through the mattress and heard the small clink of her pants landing on the floor beside the bed.

When she returned she slid beneath the covers where the world was cool and soft. Talos joined her reaching for the heat he felt radiating from her. He gathered her against him and tried to be still. He could feel her hesitation, her nerves vibrating through this connection he could never explain.

"Is it strange that I wish I could see you without you seeing me?" She whisperered to him. They were alone but the moment felt heavy and immovable. Something to be approached quietly.

"Very strange," he nodded his hands moving slowly up and down her sides. "When you are the beautiful one."

She laughed nervously poking uselessly against the wall of his chest.

"I like the way you look," she protested. Her fingertips returning to trace patterns on his skin. They left in their wake small glittering trails of gold that Talos could see in the dark.

"I don't know how you do that," He turned his head so he could see them better. Soren paused.

"You can see them?" She asked. Her voice had an edge of awe.

"They are hard to miss," he answered following her finger. She pushed up on her elbow and kissed him. She pressed her whole body to him and Talos felt the air around them was filled with gold. When she pulled away from him to draw breath he held her shoulders so he could strain to see her face in the dark. "Tell me how I earned that and I will do it every day of my life."

She moved her whole body over his so she straddled his hips and he looked up at her shadow. His eyes were adjusting and he could see her clearer and clearer as the moments passed.

"No one who is locked up beyond repair could see that, Talos. Not even strong empaths can necessarily see these things."

"I can always see you," he said softly. His hands moved over her thighs and around her waist. He pulled her forward, tipping his hips against her so her body was drawn slowly over his. She made a small sound as he pushed her back again. He saw stars and he could not be sure if they were behind his eyes or drifting from her.

"We should decide what this means," she touched his stomach, feeling the lines and ridges. Her fingers traced old scars and muscles. Talos thought he might pass out when her fingers brushed the waistband of his basics.

"We should," he agreed lifting his body so he could pull them off. Only one barrier remained between them. That was all she said. There was no further discussion to be had. Neither wanted to be the reason the other stopped. Nor did they want to ask for more than the other could give.

Soren moved forward awkwardly kicking away her basics. Talos squared her hips above him.

"You control this," he grit through his teeth. He was already shaking for her as he took her hand and pressed it to his sternum. "I will control this."

She nodded wordlessly, moving her hand to him. She touched him so delicately. He could feel her tense as he hissed.

"It's fine," he assured her. "You just feel good."

They rocked slowly together. Sometimes holding their breath as Soren tried to learn him and he tried to give in to her reaching. When he felt her mind brush against his he tried to weaken the place, allow her to bleed through.

Soren felt full as she tilted her body and tried to find more space. More space for him inside her cells. She wanted all of what he could give her in the alien landscape the bed had become. Details growing in the darkness until she was aware of every fold in the sheets, the ridge and seam of every pillow. And Talos beneath her becoming more and more material. Talos' hands gripped into her hips and he began to strain upwards into her, his breathing tight. She made a small sound of protest as he found new aches.

"I am sorry, I am sorry," he repeated like a mantra, every time his body moved against his wishes.

"It's fine," she repeated back soothing her hand over his sternum. "I am just learning."

When he could hold back no longer and went rigid beneath her, she understood. She knew how biology worked. She knew what it meant but she was unprepared for the feeling of warmth moving in her. The change of pressure in her body, the way dull light glowed from his sternum like a low setting sun. The feeling of accomplishment that built in her chest and the pleasure the mixing of their bodies created in her muscles.

She awkwardly moved off him, aware of the humidity between them. She rested on his side and he tucked her against him. His skin so thin she felt every throb of blood in his body.

"It will be better," he whispered in her ear. "I will show you how it can be."

She tried to ease his guilt. She radiated calm into him. Thinking of her intention invading his cells. If behind her she felt a sob from him then she didn't need to look. It was just another type of learning.


	33. Chapter 33

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for the gratuitous fluff but after 100k of pining and misunderstanding the author has earned a small indulgence
> 
> I have no apologies for the terrible grammar and spelling. I am helpless to stop it happening.
> 
> ❤💙💚💜DH

Talos lay on his side feeling like something immovable and ancient had been leeched from his organs through his skin. It was an unbearable lightness edged sharply with guilt. As he floated, he found himself flayed by his inadequacy. Soren had been a revelation. He held her close to his boiled and shaking body and begged the old gods to let him have a second chance. She had felt too good, too right, too close to every thing he had felt the absence of. He had tried to resist, to be gentle, to be good to her but he had quickly devolved into a keening rutting whelp.

His training had taught him to resist torture but he was helpless against pleasure. She was silent as he drew air into lungs that wanted to sob. He was painfully aware of the heat and damp between every inch of skin. He knew every place the blanket touched. Everything was raw and rendered in spectacular detail. He whispered to her some promise that he would make it right, a plea for patience. She had stayed silent but seeping through her back against his chest was calm. She radiated gentleness, trying to pull the shards left buried by the cracks.

When their skin had cooled she moved away from him. He reached to stop her but she untangled her wrist from his grasp. She reached for his shirt and pulled it over her head, he saw the white move like a dove in the darkness. He felt tender ache through whatever bridge was momentarily cast between them. He should take care of her. She slipped through the darkness to the bath. She was going to wash him away and something in him ached. Silence now felt deadly. He found his briefs kicked to the end of the bed and pulled them on.

He found her, still in darkness, leaning against the counter of the bath. The small tub was filling with water, it sparkled black in the dim around them. The water was the only sound in the room.

"Are you okay?" She asked in a soft voice. She kept her head down watching her feet on the bare tile. He wanted to laugh that she was thinking of him in the tense aftermath.

"I feel I got the better end of the deal," he said lowly back. He hovered in the doorway. She smiled.

"You asked me if I had ever done that before. Was it obvious I hadn't?" She toyed with the hem of his shirt. He felt that feral feeling again. Mine, mine, mine.

"Not in a bad way."

She looked up, he wished he could see her face more clearly so he could be certain she was teasing him.

"You could have lied," she laughed at him. He exhaled. He laughed back.

"Fine, I assumed I was one of dozens."

She stuck her tongue out at him as she reached for the tap. She turned off the water and turned away from him. She glanced over her shoulder as she began to pull his shirt up. He didn't leave.

"It seems ridiculous to be shy now," she commented looking down her barely clad body. Talos growled coming closer to her. He stayed behind her and slid off his basics as she pulled the shirt over her head. Her nerves were like fine crystals of salt against his tongue. He scooped her up and she made a surprised sound as her arms came around his neck.

He stepped them both into the warm water sinking back against the cool porcelain. Soren hissed as it closed around them. He kissed her temple as he settled her back against his chest. She turned to look up at him, her head leaning on his shoulder. The water flowed over them, Talos could not remember when he had last been in water like this; submerged peacefully with another. He skimmed his hand over Soren's ribs and the concave of her stomach. She was too thin. He had never thought of it before, how light she was. How hard she worked and how little she ate and rested. She tensed as his hand dipped between her thighs washing away the evidence of their coupling, feeling it slick between his fingers before it slipped away into the water. He pressed his head to hers, he tried to release his gratitude into the air so she could know the words it hurt too much to speak aloud. He felt her relax against him. 

"You have though. Before?" She asked as his hand continued to move between her legs. He wanted to deny it. He didn't know why but he felt hesitant.

"Yes," he answered her.

"With someone like me?"

Talos wrapped his arms around her, "there is no one else like you."

The water splashed as she turned to poke him. He caught her hands.

"You know what I mean," she protested, twisting her body to see him better. He kissed her bringing his hand up to cup her chin. Water ran down her skin, he was aware of it even in the dark.

"I was always someone else," he threaded their fingers together. There was something compelling about the similarities. His skin against hers. She nodded. She knew what he meant. He wondered if she could feel the echoes in him of loneliness, of uncertainty. He wanted her to know they had been desperate acts. A lonely body reaching for some connection, some confirmation of life. A guarantee he had not died and no one had bothered to inform him.

"Not to me," she answered. "I can always see you."

He resettled her against him, his hand tracing from her shoulder down her arm. He found her hand beneath the water. He held one against her stomach, trapping her against him. The other he reached with his between her thighs.

"Help me make up for the pathetic display earlier," he muttered in her ear.

"Is it redeeming yourself if I have to help you?" She teased him. She moved her hand over top of his, pressing it low on her belly. She turned again to kiss him in the tight circle of his arms. The water lapped and spilled in splashing pools. He was growing heavy for her, his body begging him to find release again.

He wanted to see her illuminated gold in the water. His hand crept lower again moving over her. She was warm and smooth beneath his fingers.

"Talos," she warned him. He knew what she would say. They had to move. They needed a ship. It had been early afternoon when they reached the inn. It would be later now. There would be no finding a ship until morning. Finding dinner would be a better use of their time.

"Soren," he replied. He could feel her breathing change and she shifted against him. She must feel the effect she had on him. She shifted again and he growled. The movement of his hand became more insistent. The movement of the water began to glimmer from her light.

"We should find a ship," she panted, her back arching so she pressed firmer into his chest. 

If he shifted her a little higher he could enter her this way, his body straining for her as she tensed and grew slick beneath his fingers relentlessly tracing fingers. He leaned his head forward and bit into her shoulder, his teeth gripping flesh and his jaw tense as he fought the urge to mount her again. She made a sound that was more cry than moan and he watched the water refract gold. Her legs tangled with his, her feet hopelessly twisting into the porcelain. The sound of the water splashing and lapping was sweet and tingling as he eased the grip of his teeth as his world focused on the woman in his arms.

"There is nowhere to go tonight," he said hoarsely into her ear. His own breathing grew heavy as her body writhed over his. He could see the mark he left glistening and blossoming on her shoulder as she twisted.

"Talos please," she gulped air as he pulled her back to him. He barred his free arm across her chest so she was held firmly against him and he could continue his work between her thighs.

"Please what?" He teased her, kissing her neck as she rolled her head back onto his shoulder again. "Are you a fish? Relax or I will think you want me to stop."

He felt her draw a laughing shaking breath and force her body to still even as her toes curled beneath the tap. He could look down her body and see it illuminated by molten gold.

"You are so beautiful," he whispered into her ear. He felt awe and raw desire for her. She reached for him with her power and he tried to relax around the invasion. Her lip caught in her teeth as she made a small humming sound around the growing sensation. Talos was entranced by her. "Let me have you all night?"

She nodded as Talos slipped one finger inside her, wary that she had held him hesitantly only an hour before. As he rocked against her, his hips cradling her as his vision blurred, she tightened.

When she came it felt like a great drawing of breath. Her body clenched and lifted against the pressure of his fingers. If he could hear one sound everyday for the rest of his life he would choose the broken plea that came from her throat almost hidden by the splashing of water. Her hands clawed into the edges of the bath tub. When she relaxed against him again she shivered. He rubbed her arms and tried to warm her. Some of the water had splashed on the tile or been sucked down the overflow. What remained in the tub had chilled. The gold faded. He kissed her, pressing his forehead to her.

"Are we refilling the tub or abandoning ship?" He asked against her as she shook and huffed.

"Take me to bed to warm up," she answered teeth chattering.

He leaned her forward, her arms hugging her knees. He slipped from beneath her wary of the water on the floor. The shock of cold air cooled his ardor as he collected towels. He dropped one on the floor, hoping the tile was watertight. He wrapped one around his waist. The other he held out so Soren could step into it. Her knees were jelly as she stepped over the edge of the tub. The water made a dark chuckling sound as it drained down the pipes.

He resisted the urge to pick her up and carry her back to bed. She was more than capable of getting there herself. As she walked she trailed her hand over the tiles. She looked back at him.

"I feel wasteful for being here," she said over her shoulder. "Like it should be someone else."

"I am very glad it's you," Talos answered. As they passed he raised the lights slightly. A dim warm glow filled the room. The light was comforting. It reminded him it hadn't been a dream. Soren rolled her eyes as she slid back in the bed. She curled on her side, her arms wrapped around a pillow.

"It is making me wonder when I began to fear joy? When I began to mistrust the future?" she said it softly. It was a thought for herself more than for Talos. He was caught by her words anyway.

"Do you feel joy now?" He hovered by the bedside, his heart in his throat. She nodded.

"I am glad we are beginning to understand each other." Her eyes flicked up to him, taking in his hesitation, "I am still cold."

If he had any delusions of seeming aloof they were shattered by how quickly he got into bed. Soren bounced slightly with the speed he reached for her. She giggled. It was a high nervous sound as he nestled them together beneath the covers.

Soren felt incased in joy as if she were inside an egg. Around her bobbed the pure liquid bliss Talos had brought her. She floated in it but it was somehow separated. She could not pull it in. She could not be one with it. It remained around her in delicate layers. It terrified her. The sensation of possessing happiness, of holding it in her hand, but knowing if she held it too hard it would crack. Talos still felt like something she could lose and she didn't know how to change it. How to make a future for them that was as firm and constant as a stone. She thought of the story of their people that lived inside both of them through repetition. An indelible groove worn by one generation into the next.

Dek had told her on the trip from Sordona to Cairn that the tales had changed. That they existed individually inside each Skrull like a crystalline pattern. Too intricate and branching to exist identically with any predictability. Each Skrull changed words. Each changed word changed meaning. Except instead of eroding their culture they flowed together like capillaries. Tiny, but a system that sustained. It was the miracle of Skrull survival. As a keeper he had not been tasked with correcting the history but recording it in all its forms. Soren had asked him if younger Skrulls learned a longer poem. Hers ended but her people continued. He had smiled. It was the new verses that were the hardest. They were the most different. Recent history the most changeable in their minds. That was part of the recording. To hear new verses. To keep them. To find order in them.

Soren wondered if repetition was the key to her and Talos' ending. If an act repeated over and over fused them together. If they could make a groove in the other that only they could fill. She also wondered if that was her being greedy. If she was justifying wanting him again and again as part of something longer. Grander. Something worthy of a new verse. Hubris that crushed the egg.

"How does your poem end?" She asked tracing patterns into his skin. Talos looked down at her and she didn't understand his expression. Had the question been too intimate even though they had become lovers?

"What do you mean my poem?"

"The Epic of Skrullos. What is your last verse?"

"The same as everyone else's," he answered hesitantly. "And ere the blow that could render all to ash, Did rise the twelve of Skrullos, to be the tongue that speaks and the teeth that nash. To be the bones that creak and the hands that reach. The eyes that see and the ears that hear. Far flung the Empire, scattered to grow like seeds. That the feet may march and the arms may hold. To be the child that grows and the womb that feeds. The chain that circles and the sword the strikes. And from distant star at night, will all burn in Skrullos Light."

Soren rolled away from him. She heard words she knew and ones she didn't. Her eyes traced the rippling plaster of the ceiling. She smiled sadly. His poem ended with the Council rising. The story of their people dependent on it.

"Isn't that how it ends?" He was still. He didn't reach for her in his confusion. She closed her eyes.

"And ere the blow that could render all to ash, Did rise the people of Skrullos, to the truth that speaks and the teeth that nash. With bones that creak and with hearts that reach. With eyes to see and with ears to hear. Far flung like scattered seed. That feet may walk and hands may hold. To have children grow and wombs that feed. While the chain will circle and the sword will strike from distant star at night burns Skrullos Light."

"You learned it poorly," he prodded her. She looked at him. She licked her lips slowly. It would take a long time for their grooves to grow together.

"Yours is propaganda," she teased wrinkling her nose. Dek could explain it better.

"Yours is rhetoric dressed in flowers," he reached for her. His fingers sought her ribs to tickle her. 

She squirmed away, pushing at his hands. He caught hers in his and held them above her head. She struggled against him. His mouth hovered. He settled his body more firmly over her. She tilted her chin defiantly at him so he kissed her. He coaxed her mouth open slowly, his tongue moving over hers. His thumbs smoothed over her palms until her fingers curled and she made soft sounds against his mouth. She melted beneath him, her body tilting to accommodate his size, how heavy he was. She felt ground into the mattress by every movement of his body. She slipped her hand from his and untucked her towel. He grunted as he felt it fall away and their skin touch.

"Don't tease me, Little Soren," he growled biting at her lower lip.

"Do you not want to?" She raised her brow at him. He lifted his body off hers a little so he could look into her eyes properly.

"Are you sure?"

She answered him by pulling his towel away with her unfettered hand. She felt the weight of him immediately. He settled his hips against hers as he caught her mischievous hand. He pinioned her again. He continued kissing her. Soren sighed against mouth.

"Will you make me beg?" She raised her bent leg, tracing his thigh with her heel until she could slide her foot between his knees. She could better lift her hips into his, tilting and lining their bodies up. He made a sound deep in his chest as she opened for him. He was against her heat. She felt the heavy red mist of desire pour from him and it made her bold. He had lifted away from her mouth and his breaths came in small huffs every time she rocked back and forth over him.

"I will be the one begging at this rate," he groaned.

"Then take me," she smiled as she kissed along his jaw. 

He kept one hand over her two small wrists. The other he reached between their bodies so he could align them. He exhaled and pushed into her. He was slow. He panted and paused often. He felt Soren breathe as she tilted her head back and closed her eyes tightly. Whenever he felt her relax he would move forward again. They continued slowly, inch by inch, until their hips touched.

"Are you alright?" His voice shook a little with the effort of stillness. He felt her inner muscles grip him. He felt them tense and he felt her relax. Reema's words came back to him unbidden. That hearts like bread could only have one shape after the fire. That some moments changed you for forever. Soren nodded smiling at him again.

"I am wonderful," she answered leaning up to kiss him. "Are you okay?"

"As long as you're smiling," he cupped her cheek before taking her hands again. He threaded their fingers together as he began to move in her. He buried his head in the crook of her neck and breathed deeply. She smelled of earth, and life and him.


	34. Chapter 34

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic might go on forever.  
I really apologize it is such a mess.
> 
> 💜💚💙❤DH

They had all night Talos reminded himself as Soren let her eyes droop and her breathing slow. Without windows or displays who knew what time it even was? They could stay here until hunger or the management drove them out. Talos felt like a tightly coiled spring. He thought there would be relief in coupling with her but he found it only wound him tighter. What he wanted wasn't release but familiarity. He wanted to learn her so thoroughly he could relive every moment in his memory. There was so much more he wanted to explore with her. Once they parted, both sated, both warm he lay on his side watching her.

"Sleeping would be a better use of your time," she mumbled as she stretched and snuggled more firmly into the bedding.

"Do you want to put credits on that?" He grinned at her. Soren peeped beneath her eyelids at him.

"You think you have me figured out, General?" Her mouth quirked as her eyes closed again. "I am sensing a lot of unearned confidence."

"You wound me, Captain," he retorted. He had had more control the second time. They had been more evenly matched. They had been able to look at each other after. Nothing as raw as the first time. No regrets.

"Tomorrow will be a busy day. You should rest."

"I can think of other ways to relax," he reached for her. He spread his hand over her stomach holding her down as he shifted closer.

"Talos," she sighed. He would never tire of all the ways she could say his name. He felt her curiousity spike. His brilliant Soren always pushing away what she wanted. Scared to admit she wanted it.

When he moved his body over hers she immediately spread her knees to accommodate him. He kissed the hollow of her collarbone then down her sternum. She arched her back, lifting her body to his mouth. He felt the tension of her tilting hips as he gripped her thighs.

"Ssh relax," he murmured to her as he circled his tongue where her sternum ended and the soft slope of her stomach began. He rubbed his hands over her thighs until he felt her sink back to the mattress again.

"It would be easier if I knew what you were up to," her voice drifted down from above him as he continued to kiss the planes of her abdominals. His hands moved to her hips.

"I am sure you're clever enough to have figured it out by now," his small laugh huffed warm air over her skin and he heard a small sound catch in her throat as her body pulsed.

"Talos," she was bargaining now. Her curiousity trickling over her body following the path of his mouth until it pooled warm and inviting in the cradle of her hips.

He had just shrugged the covers from his shoulders, slipping firmly between her thighs, when there was a tap at the door. Soren froze and adrenaline lanced through Talos.

"I don't feel anyone," Soren whispered in a hushed breath.

"Stay here," he instructed placing a quick kiss over her hip bone as he slid out of bed. He pulled the covers up over her head so she was lost in a sea of bed linens. There was another knock. Slightly louder. Talos shuffled into his pants and grabbed his knife from the table as he passed.

He paused at the door. Listening intently. There was another knock. Slightly more insistent. Talos could hear the rattle of dishes through the door.

Talos opened it a sliver, his back pressed to the wall. The first thing he saw was a tray.

"Dinner, compliments of the House," a voice called through the narrow opening. It nagged him that he had heard it before.

Talos remembered what Soren had said about friends. About finding compassion in others. Maybe this was what she meant. They had done nothing wrong. It was not like when he was undercover and he had to hide. Their people were not wanted for any crime. They were only distrusted. Rejected. Not by everyone Soren promised. He opened the door all the way to see neither a Trill or a Kree. On the otherside, with a tray loaded with dishes stood a man so handsome Talos was momentarily speechless.

"Now, who are you?" The man asked in a fascinated tone. His eyes traced Talos from his bare shoulders to his bare feet.

"I could ask the same thing," Talos answered. He moved the knife out of sight but stayed tense as the man stepped into the room.

"Introductions are easier with empty hands. If you will excuse me," the man held up the tray as way of apology before depositing it on the table.

"Do you work for the inn?" Talos asked his eyes scanning him for weapons. The armour he wore was thin and tight to him. He seemed harmless, if intrusive.

"No, no. I have been visiting with the hostess. She didn't mention a man." The man looked at Talos again with bemusement on his face that made Talos' fists clench. The man's eyes swept the room. "Come out Soren darling, you have been- as they say- 'busted'."

Talos kept his eyes on the stranger. Refusing to even glance at the bed in case this all turned ugly. Soren groaned as she unburied herself from the linens.

"Eros, why are you here?" She asked covering herself with the comforter. The man, Eros, whirled around. Talos wanted to pluck out his eyes for even looking at her.

"Now this is scandalous. Soren, are you wearing anything under there?" The lilt of his voice was overjoyed, as if he were a man in a desert who had just found water.

"Turn around so I can get dressed," Soren answered him. The sounds of her searching through the bedding had Talos glancing as Eros turned back covering his eyes. "Both of you."

Talos wanted to punch the smirk off the redheaded man's face as he bregrudgingly turned around.

"How did you even get here so fast?" Soren asked. Talos heard the clinking of buckles as she shimmied into her pants.

"Every thing sounded so dire when we spoke that I broke my 'no ships' rule and called in a few favours."

"I am sure," Soren sounded skeptical, both men turned to her as her voice approached. "Are you sure you don't mean you were bored?"

"Well, the spark can't last forever," he quirked his lips in a way that set Talos' teeth on edge. "Are you going to introduce us?"

"This is Talos. The Ulohmu is trying to recruit him," Soren glanced significantly at Talos who sighed and threw the knife onto the table beside the tray.

"Your tactics have changed since we met," Eros' eyebrows raised high as he glanced at Talos' bare torso. Talos was going to kill him. Soren ignored Eros keeping her eyes on Talos.

"Talos, this Eros. He is our ally. And invaluable," she ennunciated clearly to drive home the point she knew exactly the tenor of his thoughts. Talos breathed out slowly trying to calm whatever ancient beast was telling him to slaughter the intruder.

Soren pulled out a chair and began to lift the lids on the ceramics. The smell of spices drifted up. Warm and complex. She sighed.

"I hope food makes up for the intrusion," Eros bowed his head slightly as he took the other chair. "I really had no idea I was walking in on such a heated recruitment."

All the chairs taken, Talos would be forced to stand. Instead, he scooped Soren up and settled her on his knee. Eros was watching them intently but Soren ignored him and looked at Talos with a grumbling expression.

"So why are you here? Where are the others?" Eros started picking at the food, pulling a small dried fruit from one of the crocks.

Talos opened his mouth to growl at the interloper but Soren deftly tucked a Goba seed in his mouth.

"Indes chose this planet. I don't know what leads she planned on following here, but _the Ibu-Ibu_ crashed in the sulfur swamps and we had to sink her," Soren's voice held strong but Talos could taste the regret that edged her words. It made the creamy fruit in the goba seed bitter like iron.

"I am surprised you couldn't land her. You're my Miracle Worker after all," Eros teased her. Soren felt Talos' muscles tense beneath her. She felt like a referee in a silent wrestling match.

"She landed _the Fedjaeger_ fine," Talos growled. "It was the Ulohmu that mired _the Ibu-Ibu_."

Eros raised his eyebrows, "I think you need to recruit him more thoroughly. It doesn't sound like you have his allegiance."

Soren felt Talos' hand grip into her waist. She needed Eros to stop winding him up. She needed Talos to learn to trust their allies. She reached for him but he was locked up tight again. She felt her confidence sink. There hadn't been enough time. Maybe there would never be enough.

"And what is your allegiance?" Talos asked reaching forward to the tray. There was a stack of flat breads, steam rising from them. One hand braced Soren as he tilted to scoop dark red curry onto one. He folded it and passed it to her. She took it with distracted hands, her eyes darting between them. He whispered to her, "eat."

"Pleasure mostly," Eros answered with a wry grin. "Intrigue on occasion."

"So you are honour-bound to no one," Talos' lip curled. The man opened his hands and shrugged his shoulders.

"Being without a nation state does not make you honourless," he answered. The glass thin edge to his voice was deceptively hidden beneath his smiling swagger.

Soren was still perched holding her food so Talos tipped her elbow until she was forced to take a bite. He felt they were under a microscope but he did not care. His allegiance was not up for debate. His future with Soren was hazy but he knew even if they were parted he would carry her with him forever. Soren tore off a strip of bread and dipped into the curry. She held her hand under it to catch the drips as she turned to him. He ate from between her fingers and wished desperately they were alone again.

"Why did you come Eros? You still haven't told us."

"The events in Sordona have made our mutual friends on Rhondar nervous."

Soren paused mid reach for more curry.

"Sordona wasn't us," she said. Her voice was quiet but it was cast in steel.

"The Kree have decided it was the Skrull invasion and my sources say the Elders of Skrullos have petitioned the Xandar United Empires that it was the terrorists known as the Ulohmu," Eros explained. His voice was calm and matter of fact but each knew what it meant to have all sides against them.

"I will convince them they are wrong," Talos said his words low, only for Soren to hear. His arms tightened around her. He knew those pale eyes of the stranger saw everything and he didn't care. All he wanted was to soothe the paper thin waves of distress that poured off Soren.

"And how will you do that?" Eros asked. Talos snarled. He was growing tired of this interview.

"Both of you stop," Soren said at last. She stood up and walked away from the table. She pressed the heel of her hand into her forehead. "Eros, the Kree are here. We need a ship. We need to get off Trillium."

"What are the Kree doing on Trillium?" Eros' voice was intense. The mocking and teasing gone.

"They are searching for something in the jungle," Talos answered. He wanted to go to Soren. He wanted to comfort her but he knew the only comfort he could give her was action.

"They are close to our people. We need to escape. Bal-Kar is with them."

"I will speak to him," Eros said immediately. Talos' gut clenched. He hated conceding any helpfulness to this man. Soren nodded gratefully. "But first you and I should speak. Alone."

Soren's gaze flicked to Talos before looking back to Eros. "There is nothing I can't say in front of Talos."

"There are things I won't say," Eros rose from his chair. He looked at Soren intently.

"Very well," Soren agreed. She made to walk from the room.

"I will just wait here then?" Talos kicked his feet up on the table and dishes clinked.

"Talos," Soren murmured she reached for him and met nothing but resistance.

"Suits me fine," Eros smiled. It had a needle's point. "Rest assured you will come up in conversation."

Talos curled his lip as Eros shuffled Soren from the room. He tried to douse the sour flame of jealousy burning in his gut. It was hopeless as the door shut behind them.

Eros was silent behind her as he guided her down a hallway towards another set of hidden stairs.

"You know this place well," she commented as they went upwards.

"I make a habit of knowing my escape routes," the charm was back. He was hard to stay mad at. Not when she knew he was thoroughly on their side.

She opened the door at the top of the stairs and walked out onto the roof. Anastari spread out around them like the crystalline edges of bismuth, stacked and jagged, painted in lights and the purple of dusk. Soren felt once again centred in a time and a place. She had forgotten herself in the nest they had made below.

"Will you go see the others?" Soren asked wrapping her arms around herself in the cooling air.

"Do you mean will I tell them Little Soren the ice queen is finally in love?" He hovered behind her as she walked to the edge, looking at the alleys below and how they wound and turned from where they were. Her mind always on escape. She choked out a laugh. That nickname no longer suited its purpose. It now made her think of Talos. It was no longer the call of her childhood.

"I think they knew what would happen," she answered softly. She turned to look at him. She tried to smile as if nothing bothered her. "Tank will be glad to see you."

"And I will be glad to see her."

"She will be upset you came to see me first. I hope you make it up to her," Soren teased.

"I always do."

They were silent for awhile. She didn't bother reaching for him or pressing him to speak. Eros for all his warmth was a wall of ice. There was no way beneath it.

"You aren't made for this," Eros said at last. Soren brought her thumb to her lips, worrying it between her teeth.

"I know," she answered.

"Does he?"

Soren didn't know how to answer without sounding naive. She didn't know how to protest that it wasn't what it looked like.

"Talos is not the man you think he is," was all she could say. It sounded weak even to her own ears.

"He works for the Elders and yet he is here with you even as they rally for your destruction."

"We have never been safe from them," she shrugged. "They think he is spying on us for them but they are wary. They want proof of his loyalty."

"And what will you give them?" Soren turned back to look out at the city. Eros stepped closer to her she thought she knew every tenor of his voice but she had never heard this one. "What have you already given them?"

"They know there are Kree Separatists on Rhondar and who is hiding them and that there are two more bombs."

"You've endangered us all for him."

"He has a tracker implanted in his body. A threat to him is a threat to all of us."

"Only if you stay by his side. Soren, this isn't you. These aren't the risks you take. You aren't this reckless."

Doubt crept into Soren's heart making tears prick at her eyes. She wiped them away.

"I have given everything to the Ulohmu. I have done everything they have ever asked of me-"

"You speak as if they aren't your family. As if that is not what we do for family. For the ones we love."

"What if I can't be without him, Eros? What if when he asks me to come with him I go before I even know what is happening?" That was the question that she had barely dared to think let alone speak aloud. She could with Eros. She knew nothing of his past, nothing of his feelings but she knew he held the answer to any question born from heartache.

"Would he give you the same loyalty?"

She didn't know how to answer him. At every turn Talos had sworn allegiance to the Elders, had distrusted the mothers, had been prey to the misinformation spread about them. Yet he never wavered from following them. He always sought her. He did anything she asked. His words and his actions were never in harmony.

"If you can't answer confidently you should leave before you can't." Eros' words stung as he closed the distance between them.

He embraced her from behind. He was so much taller than her he easily rested his chin on the crown of her head as they both looked out at the city. She felt his power invading the spaces in her mind where pleasure lived. Bringing them to life, making them sparkle as the lights of the city did. She felt one with not just him but every being on the planet. As if peace and love were the strongest forces in the universe. She mourned that he would not let her reach into him the same way. That his power brought joy to everyone but him.

"But," he continued his voice rumbling through her. "If he did deserve you. If what you can see, if what you feel, was the real truth of him. Then all the forces in the galaxy eventually bow down to love and you will find nothing so weak and petty as war could keep you apart."

He released her and stepped to brace one leg on the edge of the roof.

"Will you go to the others?" Soren asked.

"How can I find them?"

"_The Fedjaeger's_ beacon is on," she shivered. She was cold now. "They know nothing of Sordona."

"I will make a plan with Indes and find out what it was that drew her here," he braced to propel himself upwards.

"And tell them I love them," she said quickly. He paused to look at her.

"You will tell them yourself, Soren."

With that he took off into the sky, his movements smooth. Whenever she watched him fly Soren felt small in a universe that held a lonely god.


	35. Chapter 35

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What 👏 is 👏 plot? 👏
> 
> I don't know.
> 
> ❤💙💚💜 DH

Talos was dressed again when Soren returned. She slipped in quietly. Once the door closed she leaned back against it looking at him. The room felt disrupted, Soren wanted to soothe it back into place. He had glanced briefly at her when she had slipped in but his eyes returned to the knife he was cleaning. Eros' words that love conquered all still tingled beneath her skin. She no longer balked when she heard the word. She loved him. She could not pretend her desire for him could be satiated by the physical act. It had only grown like ripples on a pond. Every wave creating a larger one. Her need for him renewed every time they crested together.

"Where did he go?" Talos broke her musings.

"To see Indes," Soren answered pushing away from the door.

"Will he come back?"

"Not if Tank has a say in the matter," Soren started covering the dishes again. "I hope they show a little more courtesy to her bunkmates than when she and I shared."

"Thalla-" Talos started. Soren cut him off by kissing him. He looked surprised as she drew back.

"Thalla is a big girl. She can find somewhere else to sleep."

Talos licked his lips, "you should eat."

Soren shrugged, "it will be good cold."

Talos stood abruptly, instinctively. He recognized the invitation in her words. He swayed and his fingers twitched. Soren knew he was holding himself back. She reached for him with her power and smiled sadly.

"All that work and you are hiding from me again."

"I am not proud of how I feel," Talos rumbled lowly. He placed the knife carefully by the tray.

"I am not interested in only the parts of you that are noble and good," Soren placed her hand in the centre of his chest. Her hands were cold from being outside. He covered it with his. He warmed her.

"Those pieces are few and far between," he stepped closer to her and slid his arms around her waist. "Did he tell you not to trust me?"

"No," Soren shook her head.

"What did he say?"

"We talked about me. About what I am capable of," she stepped away from him drifting back to the bed. Talos followed her.

"Every thing. You are the most capable-"

"You need to learn to doubt me, Talos," she turned to him, her eyes pleading.

"Do you doubt me?"

She looked away. "I should. I am allowing myself to believe in things I know are impossible."

"Like what?"

"That I can walk away from you when the time comes. That we can stay together. That I can be with you like this without love and devotion."

Talos' lungs had forgotten how to expand. His breathing was shallow as she spoke. He was trying to sort out the meaning of words as they fell from her lips. Words that had become the centre of his thoughts since he met her.

"Soren," he reached for her. His voice was so tight her name cracked in his throat.

"Don't worry. I speak only of myself. I have no expectations of you."

He couldn't reassure her with words. He had none that could be strung together in a way that would be persuasive or coherent. He had action. He knelt in front of her and placed a kiss in the centre of her stomach. Her hands came up to trace over his ears and the crown of his head. His hand shook as he pulled loose the laces of her boots. He held her heel as she stepped out of them one at a time. When she was bare foot his fumbling hands moved to the fastening of her pants. He peeled them down her legs and she balanced her fingertips on his shoulders as she stepped one foot out then the other.

"Talos," she murmured. She touched the back of his neck and something inside him snapped. He didn't want to hear her next words. He could think of nothing that wouldn't be painful. He didn't want to hear she loved him anymore than he wanted to hear she was leaving. He wanted to be immaterial. He wanted to cease to exist and melt into her bones so he would be with her always.

He shoved her hips hard so she landed with a small bounce on the mattress. He spread her knees and he continued to kneel. He kissed between her thighs, his tongue pressing into her basics. Her breath caught halfway between a moan and a sob. He tugged them down her legs and ducked his shoulders beneath her legs, his hand pressing her stomach to keep her pinned to the edge of the mattress.

Soren's jaw ached from clenching as Talos knelt in front of her. She kept reaching for him as her body twitched and she pulled hard breaths through her nose. Every time she came close she was washed away by a heavy red sea of desire. It pushed her back and held her more thoroughly than his hands could. She felt everything reflected through a double lense, an image too close yet too small. She could not find the edges of it. She was certain what she saw when she closed her eyes, the waves of red on a shore, the bursts of colour, the scraps of images through fluttering eyelashes, were some clue to their future together. A wide expansive love folded over and over to be the size of a seed.

None of these thoughts held as his tongue traced and his fingers spread and stroked. They slipped, inverted and floated away. The searing aching scraps of light that were left behind were washed away by tears. Her throat stung as her jaw released and a silent cry hung there cracking then tissues and tendons in her throat. She was released from it by a dark rolling surge of bliss that swept from the cramping arches of her feet to the top of her scalp. Her spine that had held an unrelenting curve finally sank back to the mattress as every nerve tingled. Her hands that had gripped sheets could no longer clench. Everything was slack and weak and beautiful.

She felt Talos stand on shaking legs and heard the fastening of his pants open. Her legs were draped over his hips and her sweat collected against the hide. The fabric slipped lower as he leaned forward, his knees touching the mattress.

"Stop me now, Soren," he begged. Her throat hurt too much to talk. On reflex her leg kicked and her heel swung into the tender back of his knee. He buckled forward so he was braced on top of her. She allowed her love and acceptance to burble from her chest, clear and constantly renewing. He released a stuttering breath as he gathered her close. His control was making his lip curl so he beared his teeth as he resisted, but she had learned how to tilt her hips for him. She dug her heel into his tensing muscles to urge him forward. He moved with urgency, he grunted and growled over her. Her hands knotted in the loose linen of his shirt, stopping him from moving away. He sank to his elbows as she drowned in his desperation. She wrapped her arms around his neck as he pushed her higher across the mattress. She flattened her feet against his haunches, slipping the leather of his pants farther down his thighs.

When at last he spilled hot into her she thought she would cry again from the relief of it. His relief she realized. He collapsed heavy and unbearbly warm onto her. Where their chests pressed together she felt every beat of his heart and the shivering between his cells. She knew his anger, his fear, his jealousy. It was open to her and she let it seep in and find its mate in her anger and fears. She soothed a hand over his head and cradled his neck with cool hands. She pressed her mouth to his ear and whispered calming words that were barely coherent. He sagged heavier onto her. He tensed to lift his body off her but she tightened her knees around him.

"It's fine just lie here a little longer," she rubbed her hands along his spine until he relaxed again.

"I am too heavy," he muttered into the mattress.

"Not to me," she answered. The feeling of being crushed by his weight, of barely being able to draw breath beneath him was all she wanted in that moment. She didn't want to move or flee. She wanted them to fuse into one another. She wanted to be destroyed by her love.

Eventually he rolled off her and kicked away his clothes. He moved them beneath the sheets they had rucked and creased with the movement of their bodies. She curled against him, her head pillowed on his shoulder. Her fingers moving over him. Counting his scars, learning them by touch. She hesitated before she traced the oblong diamond over his heart.

"I am sorry," his voice rumbled against her ear as he took her hand in his.

"How old were you?" She did not turn to look at him even though she longed to.

"Eighteen," he answered her. She lifted her head and kissed the scar.

"You were too young. No one should be asked to make that choice before they are old enough to understand what it means."

"Can't you see how we are the same?" He hesitated in his words. He felt her tense. He swallowed. "I have spent ten years with the Council in my head and beneath my skin, but it has been that long for you Soren. Do not try and tell me the Ulohmu has asked less of you."

Soren's words on the rooftop rushed back to her. Eros' concern when she had finally given voice to the dark pip she had carried with her for so long. That it hadn't been fair what Indes and Dania had taken from her when she had been so young. That it had been too much. That a life spent working herself to exhaustion and running was no better than hiding alone as she had been on Nadiir. That love and safety had felt conditional on her usefulness. And yet to hear Talos say it she wanted to argue.

"Indes would let me leave. Can you say the same of the Elders?"

"Could you? Could you live free of those doubts and fears that make you suffer to spare those around you? You let yourself be as defined by your martydom as I am by my duties."

"By your isolation and loneliness," she corrected him sitting up so she could look down at him. He wasn't shutting her out she realized. She could untangle if she tried his reservations from her frustration even as they snarled inside her. "It is my family that drives me. When they pulled me from the ship on Nadiir, were my fears different than when you fled Zendinar? Didn't you study hard with your mother so you never had to fear again? Didn't you accept the offers of the Council so you would never go hungry? The war has made martyrs of us both. At least I am loved by the ones I fear losing."

Talos sat up and pressed his head into her shoulder. He laughed, it was a harsh sound. "Why am I just finding you now? Every thing would have been different if I had known the universe had a woman like you in it."

He wrapped his arms around her waist and rocked her until she laughed too.

"Your flattery will not win you this argument, General," she tried to shake him off but he gripped her harder. He rested his chin on her shoulder.

"Why would I want to win against someone so brilliant and beautiful?" He grinned at her and she laughed again.

"I am mad about what you said," she tried to turn so she could see him. "I am trying to stay mad at you."

"Then punish me for eternity, Captain." He kissed her neck, growling in her ear.

"Tell me how."

"Be my woman," he kissed her temple. Soren breathed sharply at his words. "Be my woman, Soren?"

"Talos," she smoothed her hands over his arms trying to slip away so she could think without his hope pressing on her. "I won't leave the Ulohmu and you won't join us. How can I be your woman?"

"If anyone could succeed in the face of incredible odds, it is you. Be my woman, Soren, and dare the universe to part us."

"You make it sound easy," she relaxed against him. She rested her forehead against his and let him rock them slowly.

"Could it be harder than being separated?"

She shook her head. That was the greatest impossibility.

"Would the Elders put a tracker in me?"

"I would kill anyone before they touched you," he kissed her before sinking his teeth lightly into her shoulder.

"I am going to buy a ship," she turned her head and kissed his temple.

"I know."

"No. I am going to buy a ship for me. Giz will take the Fedjaeger and I will buy my own."

"And where will you go from there?"

"I am going to find out what happened on Sordona."

"Why?" Talos tensed. It was a Kree territory that had just eradicated every Skrull that had been hiding planetside. There was nowhere more dangerous for her in the galaxy.

"Someone has attacked the Embassy in our name. They could do it again. I cannot let that happen."

"They are no longer there. They would have evacuated."

"No one is ever truly gone. I will find what trace of them I can," she hesitated. "And I need you to return to the Elders."

"I will never see you again."

"I will find you."

"How?"

"I will always find you."

"Then do not lose me to begin with," he argued.

"Talos," she began but he interrupted her.

"If the Council has been deceived again and again then it has been a deliberate attack on both our sides. We must untangle it. And we can do it together."

He stood and pulled on his pants again. They sagged low on his hips as he reached for her.

"Come along. We will eat. We will sleep and in the morning we will begin our new deal."

"And what deal is that?" Soren asked as she slid from beneath the sheets grabbing her basics.

"We will clear the Ulohmu's name and you will be my woman."

"I feel I am getting the better end of the bargain," Soren embraced him from behind and kissed the scar on his shoulder.

"Then you shall have to work hard to make it up to me, Inamorata."


	36. Chapter 36

Morning came quickly. Soren mourned that they would not be coming back to the room. They would not be returning to the place where they were alone in the world. She had fled from many places and watched even more burn to the ground. She had even opened the vents and sunk the ship that had been her home the longest. Yet it was this small room in an out of the way inn that would break her heart to leave. Talos' words were still alive in her blood. They tingled against her skin whenever she replayed them in her mind. She watched him sleep beside her. She allowed herself the pleasure of sifting through his peace. He wanted her to be his woman. He would unite their sides for her. She believed in him. She believed he would accomplish anything he set his mind to. She pulled what she could of him inside her, she wanted to remember how it felt to be with him like this. She wanted to be able to relive it when they were apart. She wanted every morning to start this way. A dream even more beautiful for its impossibility.

"I will have to get used to waking up with someone meddling," Talos grumbled. His eyes still closed he dragged her against him. He kissed her over and over, in the crook of her neck and against her ear until she started to laugh.

"I wasn't meddling," she protested trying to push his face away. "I was enjoying."

He had enjoyed it too. Talos had been so wary of the use of empathic powers against him, he had assumed it would always be an intrusion. When he and Soren had come together, it had not been unwelcome but it had been uncomfortable. He had felt like a shelled crustacean, vulnerable and mottled to look at. It had been beyond his control or hers. A meeting as instantaneous and brutal as a wave breaking on the shore. The sensation that had woken him had been akin to the feeling of sinking with her into the bath. Her warmth had flowed around him and he was aware of her as if she stood in his dream. Except his dream was only the edge of nothingness that signalled waking. An awareness that the darkness existed only within your head and that beyond your eyelids a whole world was waiting. Waiting until you opened your eyes. Then Soren had been there. The immaterial becoming the material as he reached for her.

"We need to keep moving," she turned in his arms and spoke against his lips. His mouth was warm from sleep. When he kissed her she could feel the languid way his muscles moved. She felt it too. She rarely woke feeling so rested.

"You should sleep a little longer. The ship yard will still be there," Talos didn't want to leave. He didn't want to let the world in. He could feel the thrum of anticipation in her. He slid his hands lower and he kissed her slower. He ran his tongue over the tendons and dips in her shoulder. She turned her head into the pillow and made wonderful sounds before her hands started knocking him away.

"Don't pretend you want to sleep, Talos" she sat up. He wondered when she would lose patience indulging his hunger for her. The way her lips quirked as she slid out of bed told him it wouldn't be today.

* * *

Talos knew they were drawing closer to the ship yard as the dark shadows like fat floating flies grew larger and the sounds became louder.

Every street in Anastari was densely packed, whether it was by numbers or because Trills were a man and a half wide. The ship yards drew a more diverse population. Talos felt exposed again even as more skin colours and shapes appeared. He had tried to convince Soren to shift but she refused. There was no time she said. He was frustrated but he held his tongue. His eyes scanned the crowds, his plan for escape constantly reforming in his mind.

Soren adjusted the scarf over her mouth. Talos was tense next her. She resisted the urge to soothe him. His eyes were darting between the borders of each seller, their stalls and wares bleeding into each other. She knew what she could feel was the churning of his mind. His instincts and training forming a whirring changing barrier around them. She could focus on finding the ship because he would protect them.

Each collection of ships circled around structures of varying size and quality. Some were no more than poly barriers wrapped around tent poles so the movement of ships and wind caused the orange fabric to snap as it flapped and threaten to fly away with each take off. Others were small cabins. A select few were larger. Warehouses that had smaller vehicles inside and larger ones out front. These were the ones that drew Soren's eye. They would hopefully take credits instead of lownar and there was a better chance they could deal with them without raising as much suspicion. A seller who dealt with one hundred faces a day might forget the flashes of green skin they caught.

They were about midway through the yard. Behind them the crowd closed in and merchants huddled in the shade of their ships. More yards stretched out in front.

Soren stopped in front of a low yellow stone building. The facade was chipped and there was a hole in the wall stuffed full of bricks. A small red ribbon fluttered where it was caught between two stones. She walked along the side of the building.

"This one?" Talos growled lowly as he followed her.

"This one," Soren confirmed as she kept walking.

"Why?" Talos asked his eyes no doubt taking in the rough and rusted exterior.

Soren stayed silent because in truth she didn't know. She could rarely articulate when it came to technology or mechanics. She felt drawn as if the wires and circuit boards called to her. A ship was calling to Soren now.

She knew which one as soon as the lot came into view. Her panels were dark blue, faded where the sun beat the hardest. The rivets stood out copper in the places they studded and swirled like constellations. Her nose was long like a bird of prey and the back end flared out in a w-curve.

"She's pretty but that's not enough," Talos grumbled behind her. He was even more antsy in the yard than among the crowd. Here they stood out as two lone figures wandering between winged giants. Soren glanced at him over her shoulder. He could only see her eyes but he knew even their minutest expression. He held his hands up in surrender. "Which you know."

Soren approached the ship with the same reverence one approached a large animal. Her hand outstretched to touch it.

"She's very beautiful," a slightly stuttering voice called from behind. Talos whirled to see a man in a light coloured suit. It was worn in the seams and out of fashion. It reminded him of something he might have seen on Xandar when he first entered training. His skin was blue, too pale to be Kree. Talos thought the nose could be Terian. The man wrung his hands together as he approached. "If you would like to look inside I can go get the manual from-"

Soren had been ignoring him. Her hands moved along the panel, slotting her fingers into a small access hatch. The gang plank lowered with a hiss.

"Oh," the seller made a round shape with his mouth. "Or I suppose you could do that."

Soren smiled then and walked up the plank. Talos waved the man in front of him so Talos was the last to enter. His hand was poised over his knife.

"Where did you get her?" Soren asked as she opened a panel and began to flick switches until the lights buzzed to life. The man was watching her fingers. Talos tensed. He did not know if it was their cleverness or hue that drew his notice.

"An auction at the Transport Guild's lot just beyond Cairn's orbit. She was abandoned cargo somewhere near the Pama system."

"Pama?" Talos bristled. Hala was located there. Every planet fell under the Kree colonies.

"Near it," the man nodded. "She made quite a journey but they brought her through the jump points safe."

"I want to see the life systems," Soren said taking off down the hall. The man was forced to follow at a quick pace.

By the time Talos caught up Soren already had the panel open and had ducked inside the tiny room. The man was bent double to call in after her. His voice was of the wet and weepy variety that Talos found grating.

"She was brought in with a small crew. Any number over fifteen and you will need to refit the compressor," he called through to Soren. Talos could see her crouched shining a light around inside the systems. The man looked up at Talos. "Do you have a large crew?"

Talos only grunted. He had no interest in answering any questions. Ever. Especially not when they concerned the Ulohmu.

Soren's hand reached out the hatch to pull herself through again. Talos immediately moved brushing the salesman away so he could lift her through the opening. He blocked the view of her while he resettled her scarf to hide her face.

"Will you take credits?" Soren asked. She did not close the panel up behind her. The man stammered for a moment.

"Yes. Yes we do. With a tracking voucher."

Talos and Soren froze. He looked at her intently.

"Will that be a problem?" The man asked nervously.

"No," Soren said quickly. "How much do you want for her?"

"A million credits," the number blubbed from the man too fast. Soren smiled at him like a well fed Trillium leopard.

"I didn't catch your name," she said sweetly continuing to walk through the hall. She opened the door to the galley and peered her head in.

"Althar," the man answered.

"Seems like she sleeps thirty standard, Althar," Soren remarked.

"Yes," he agreed as she looked into the privvies. The formed linotile gleamed.

"So if I need a refit compressor to run at capacity, what will offset that cost?" Soren kept walking as she asked him questions. He followed her a bit like a pup and Talos grinned.

"I could sell her for nine hundred thousand credits. If you were needing to refit the compressor."

"It's not about need," Soren answered. Dodging his polite inquiry. "It's about an incomplete ship."

They continued to tour the ship, Soren leading. Poor Althar was sweating by the time they returned again to the gang plank. Talos thought he may have fallen more for Soren than he thought possible. At every turn she was in control and Althar became more tongue tied.

"So six hundred thousand?" Soren smiled at him over her shoulder as she walked down the gang plank.

"With a voucher," Althar said lamely as Talos brushed passed him.

"I will return with a compressor. If she starts once I install it then I will give you the voucher."

Soren left Althar bumbling.

They were quiet as they left the yard but Talos grabbed her arm quickly once they were out of sight.

"How are you going to give him a tracked voucher, Captain?" Talos hissed. Soren kept walking. Her eyes scanning for a parts dealer.

"I can fake it long enough to get the ship to the others. Our money will clear and he will never need to use it."

"The Ulohmu has enough?"

Soren gave him a look. "Still spying, General?"

"At some point I will need to know our resources," Talos countered as he followed her.

Soren stopped and looked at him.

"Are you defecting?" She asked breathlessly. Talos had spoken without thinking. He panicked even as his heart begged him to agree.

"I never said that," he said cautiously.

"Then keep your hands off my purse strings," Soren quipped walking again.

They checked different vendors and none seemed to have the part they needed. Or they would only take lownar. Talos had never encountered such a distrust of the Empires' currency.

Word of them had begun to spread as he heard whispers among the sellers. On occasion, children dodged ahead of them as if to herald their arrival to other shop owners.

"I don't like this," Talos muttered as he watched a young Trill cut through the crowd.

"We need the compressor," Soren said through her teeth.

As they were exiting another shop empty-handed there was a rumble and the crowd began to part. Talos recognized the smell of a carbucycled battery. He gripped Soren, holding her at the door of the shop as an All-Terra vehicle rolled through.

The Kree were in the ship yard.

Soren tensed beside him.

"What do we do?" She whispered.

"We need to get back to Althar's. We take the ship as is and send Eros for the compressor later," Talos grit through his teeth. He braced himself. "We move on three and we don't split up."

He counted as they waited for the Kree to stop the vehicle. As they disembarked Talos counted four bodies.

They started to walk through the crowd at a quick pace. Soren did not mind the hard grip Talos kept on her arm. He dodged them through the crowd, his eyes scanning. He could see in the distance Althar's warehouse but it was still too far. He heard the Kree moving through the crowd. It could have been his imagination but he thought the whine of blasters kicking on was following them.

"You two, stop," a voice commanded behind them.

"Keep walking. If they get close we run," Talos continued to drag Soren. "Keep an eye out for someone your size. We need to shift."

"No," she insisted as the sound of protest rose behind them. The Kree were shoving people out of the way. Coming closer to them. He shook her arm and her shoulder ached.

"Soren, this isn't a philosophy debate."

"Get us out of here and don't fight me" she ripped her arm back.

"I said stop," the voice called again and Talos was sure he heard the whine of a blaster.

"Run," he hissed and took off down an alley between two warehouses.

Talos' lungs burned from running. The Kree who chased them was close behind as they wound through the tight space. Talos wanted to reach Althar's from behind. Tucked against the buildings were garbage and parts. He kicked what he could behind him to slow pursuit.

He glanced over and over at Soren. She kept up to his relief but her pack was a heavier burden. The movement of it shook her shoulders. A door was ajar ahead and Talos dragged her in it. He ripped the pack off her back. She didn't protest. She took her tools from the side and shoved them in his pack as he crouched to watch through the sliver of door. The Kree ran passed. Talos recognized him from the fire. He was the leader.

He waited and no others followed. Talos slipped them through the door again and they continued moving towards Althar's. He slid them back to the main street. Eddies of buyers and travelers were disrupted by the Kree searching. Talos tugged her a step back from the mouth of the alley.

He shivered as he changed. His clothes growing tight, no longer sagging. His jacket creaked in protest. Soren said nothing. He felt nothing from her as he became an adolescent Trill who worked the market across from them. Talos tugged his hood low and pulled them through the crowd keeping Soren against the wall.

He glanced around as he walked. The curling blonde mustached man was ahead of them interrogating a Trill woman with a baby on her hip. Talos didn't look away as the Kree held his gaze. They were almost to Althar's when he heard footsteps. Following just behind. Stalking them like prey.

He tugged Soren in the narrow space next to Althar's. She was behind him, they only fit single file. He prayed to the old gods ahead of them was not as dead an end as it looked.

It was. He turned to see a shape at the mouth of the alley. He leaned his back against the wall and held Soren close to him so her hands were against his chest. He was certain she felt the pounding of his heart. He covered her profile with his hand. The figure walked slowly towards them.

"Reach into my coat and bring out my knife," he whispered through clenched teeth. He felt Soren tense against him. At first, he thought she was frozen in fear until he felt her hands move to his belt.

The shape was now clearly the Kree. Bal-Kar, Soren had called him. She held the knife between their bodies.

"Can I help you?" Talos asked. Keeping his voice low and gruff. Older than the Trill was. "The lady and I were lookin' for some privacy."

Bal-Kar looked at them. His blaster raised.

"Woh-Lar is dead. Did you kill him?" He asked.

"I did," Soren said in husky voice. She kept her face turned upwards towards Talos. If the Kree shot them Talos wished he could look at her one last time but he kept his chin level. His eyes unwavering from Bal-Kar, who looked only at Soren.

"Good."

He backed up from them slowly before turning and walking back down the alley. Talos waited until he left. Soren stayed curled against him. He shook her back to focus as he pushed away from the wall.

As they passed a door it flew open and someone hauled Talos backward into the dark by his pack. Soren made a surprised sound and latched onto his arm. They fell into the room and the door closed behind them.

"That was quite a trick you did there," a man said lighting a jarru root cigar, his face was momentarily illuminated. He had the high bridge of Terian. His skin lined with lavender veins in a soft blue complexion. "Making the chap go away like that."

Althar. But not Althar. His demeanor was completely changed. His voice smooth and clipped, his motions practiced.

"Who are you?" Talos demanded pushing Soren behind him.

"You've grown up well," Althar commented looking him up and down. "You look like your father. Or, well, you do when you aren't like this."

Talos shook off the Trill.

"What do you know about my father?" Talos growled.

"Really, General," Althar puffed on his cigar. "We were all such friends on Zendinar."


	37. Chapter 37

Talos was dreaming. That was the only way this all made sense. The beautiful ship. The Kree letting them go. The words coming from the Terian's mouth. His mouth that, like a dream, floated in the darkness. Lit only when he sucked in and the ember of his cigar flared.

"What do you know of Zendinar?" Talos demanded. Their people's tragedies were so numerous that only those who survived remembered the names and places. All else fell to numbers.

"It was a long time ago," Althar sparked a lamp on the table. The gas caught and burned purple. It shone too bright. The white light was blinding. Talos shielded his eyes and reached behind him to hold Soren. She grasped both his hand with hers. She was shaking but where their skin touched she poured calm into him. Blinding white conviction that rivaled the sizzling light. "This must be the first time I have seen you in twenty years."

Althar hummed over the gadget before dialing it back until it was a faint purple glow. It felt to Talos that the room was swimming in unoxygenated blood. Like they were in some forgotten kidney or artery. That Althar had calcified to the wall.

"Excuse me for not weeping," Talos growled.

"I wondered what became of you," Althar leaned against the table puffing his cigar. He didn't mark Talos' words. He seemed a little lost in thought. Talos saw he favoured one side as he leaned. Either a habit from an old injury or he had a concealed weapon. Althar took the cigar from between his lips and considered it carefully. "Well, not you exactly. The children in general. And not exactly Zendinar. Whenever one burns I wonder about the children."

He stubbed the cigar out and turned his wet orange eyes to Talos. Soren was staying silent. They all stayed silent. The silence stretched thinner and thinner between them like an over-taxed heart muscle. The cord snapping as Talos felt something dark flopped in Althar's belly.

"Well?" Althar opened his hands to the room. Welcoming any sound. "What became of you?"

"I survived," Talos answered unhelpfully. Soren had begun to slip her hand beneath his jacket. She seemed to be cowering behind him but her hands were slipping over his belt. Slow steady mechanic's hands. She was unsheathing his knife. Talos needed to keep Althar distracted.

"And you did too," Talos observed. He tucked his hands into his pockets to disguise the small tug of Soren freeing the knife.

"I did. It perhaps makes me less noble than your father. Although none of us could compare to Av-"

"Don't," Talos interrupted him. Althar's voice had a drawn petty quality. Not unfriendly but nursing an unclosed wound. Soren froze for a moment beneath Talos' jacket. "Don't sell yourself short."

Soren continued once again to move slowly. How could Talos explain to her without words that he could not bear to hear his father's name? Or his mother's. The memories were better stripped of names. He never had to wonder what it was like for them to pretend their names were not their own. He never had to ask himself if before they had died his mother had a thousand ways to say his father's name, the way Soren could say his. His mother had never spoken it again after Zendinar had fallen.

"Your father died a noble death. As far as deaths go. I do not mind coming up short to his accomplishments. As I am still alive, there is still a chance I could die nobly."

Soren's hand returned to Talos'. He wished in that moment for telepathy. Her fist holding the knife was in his back, knuckles pressing into him. He hoped if it was necessary she would use it without mercy.

"For the Council?" Talos asked. He wanted Althar to keep talking but his orange eyes were shrewd and Talos knew he would not be easily thrown off.

"It is a vow we make for life," Althar straightened and walked towards Talos. His hand twitched by his side. Soren peaked around his side to keep an eye on Althar. "Is that something you understand?"

Althar reached with long fingers to the collar of Talos' shirt. Talos let him pull it open, although his lip curled. Althar drew aside the fabric, revealing the small diamond scar.

"You do," Althar said in a soft and dangerous voice. He drew back and his eyes moved to Soren. "Does she?"

"Yes," Talos said without hesitation. He felt no press of empathic powers against his shield but it was a good half truth should Althar try. Soren did understand because they had argued it almost every time one of them drew breath.

"You will excuse me, my dear, for needing proof?" Althar extended his hand to Soren who stepped away from him. Talos snarled, a deep animal sound, and grabbed for Althar's wrist. Talos saw red in the strangely lit room and he would break the man's arm for even looking at her.

Before he could, Althar turned to Talos and his arm whipped out. Talos' world became nothing but heat so hot it was cold. His body spasmed and his breath choked in his throat. Althar's stun baton was digging into his ribs. Talos collapsed as Althar withdrew the weapon. His muscles, deprived of the intense jolt of electricity, crumpled.

Althar turned his head to find a blade at his throat. Soren bared her teeth at him.

"Put your weapon down and tell me your name," she snarled.

"I wish you wouldn't. He doesn't like violence," the man said with a quiver in his voice. His hands raised slowly.

"Who doesn't?" Soren dug the knife into Althar's skin. He was beginning to sweat. On the ground Talos groaned. Soren stepped closer to Althar. Her voice was dead calm. "Who are you and what do you want?"

"This isn't necessary," blank confused eyes begged with Soren.

"You hurt him," Soren's voice had an edge like iron. She wanted to hurt Althar but she resisted.

"Who?" The word whistled through Althar's pouting mouth. He rolled his tongue around his mouth and huffed his sleeve. "Have I been smoking?"

His eyes glanced to his hand that held the stun baton. He let out a little cry and dropped it.

Talos heard it thud through the thick fog in his skull. From the ground every thing seemed backward. He lay in darkness, the purple ring of light above him. Soren had the knife to Althar's neck and he had dropped the baton. Only a fool would trust him. Talos grabbed the baton and with an aching burst of movment dug it into Althar's knee.

The man shrieked and crumbled.

They lifted his limp body from the ground and tied him to a chair. As soon as he was secure, his body slumped forward against the bonds, Soren turned to Talos.

Her hands moved beneath his jacket to the tender place the baton had touched him. He hissed.

"Are you alright?" She whispered. Her voice was tight with panic. He took her hand from where it pressed against his tender ribs. He brought it to his lips and kissed her palm.

"I am fine."

"Who is he?" Soren asked turning back to Althar.

"I don't know," Talos answered truthfully. He didn't recognize the man.

"He knew your father," Soren hesitated. Talos could feel her heart brushing against him like a bird wedging itself against the bars of a cage.

"That signifies nothing," Talos growled. He was not mad at her but she flinched anyway. He breathed out slowly through his nose. He tried to soften his voice. "Zendinar was a big colony. My father was important there."

Soren moved the light so it shone more directly on Althar. She crept closer to him, looking at his lax face.

"Soren, stay away. He could be playing us."

"They are both asleep," she answered lowly. 

"They?" Talos asked his brow raised. Soren could not read minds as Dania could but she felt a changing tide inside Althar.

"He is obviously troubled," she answered remembering the way the man's eyes had blanked as he looked at her. The way confusion and fear had swelled like a wave from the soles of his feet until it swallowed his head.

She took a step back as Althar twitched. He began to struggle and snarl.

"Stop that," Talos admonished. He tried to clamp down on the rage he felt remembering Althar's hand reaching for Soren. Althar laughed. His head fell back as his chest heaved.

"Althar, you idiot," he seemed to talk to the air. "You take over long enough to get us tied to a chair."

Soren and Talos shared a look as the man squirmed.

"Who are you, then?" Soren asked calmly. Wave after wave of delicious serenity wafted from her. Talos' nose flared as he sensed it. He could smell it and taste it. It overwhelmed him the way a flowering tree perfumed the wind. It was everywhere and nowhere. He longed to press his nose to the source. It affected Althar too as he sagged in his bonds.

"You have the scar but you don't act like my brethern," Althar mumbled.

"No one touches my woman without her permission," Talos rumbled lowly. He crouched in front of Althar so he could see his face.

"I would have been gentle," Althar groaned. Talos lunged at him. Only Soren, grabbing the back of his collar, stopped him from wrapping his hands around Althar's throat.

Althar laughed. He laughed until he slumped against his bonds again.

"There is nothing like a Skrull woman to heat a man's blood," he croaked. His eyes burned into Soren, who struggled to hold Talos back. "They turn us into animals. I can smell yours from here. "

Althar licked his lips and pulled in a sharp breath. It was as if he could taste Soren in the air. Talos would kill him.

"He is trying to get you worked up. Don't let him," Soren whispered to Talos as he tugged against her grip. "Trust me."

She let him go and Talos lunged forward just enough to make Althar jump. That sent him cackling again. There was something feral about him. He seemed delirious. Soren knelt in front of him and Talos tensed. No rope or bonds would be strong enough that he would want her so close to this man.

The air filled again with the scent of blossoms and spring. Talos wondered if Althar understood it or if he was merely pulled beneath the effects.

"You do not have to say your name if it is too hard," she said soothingly. "I know you are not Althar."

The man flinched as if she had flicked something hot at him.

"Do you think I don't remember?" He spit the words at her. "I know it, Althar knows it too."

Soren pulled her scarf away so Althar could see her more clearly. His eyes seemed hungry for her.

"And how long have you known Althar?" She asked softly. He licked his lips nervously. His eyes darting to the corner of the room. Talos wondered what was there.

"Ten years," the man hissed as if the answer burned. Talos felt cold dread. Six months inside Enzo had nearly fractured him. He had felt the split grow and he had begun to try to placate his host body even though he knew the man was dead.

"Althar must be a good friend," Soren soothingly. His face kept twitching as if trying to keep words inside. Soren reached out and cupped his face. Talos growled so low it vibrated in the room. Soren and Althar ignored him.

"He is," he agreed.

"Is he giving you trouble now?" Soren asked softly. 

"He doesn't like violence," Althar answered. He seemed to be drifting into Soren. Talos knew it was addictive after being alone so long. Kindness. Touching. If Emerys had touched him as Soren was doing now Talos would have cracked open in her lap.

"And how do you feel?"

"About violence?" Althar repeated wetting his lips. Soren nodded. She touched the edge of his ear. Althar instinctively rubbed his head into her hand. Talos would kill him.

"About anything," Soren answered. Talos prickled. Had she played him so easily? Had he appeared to her as Althar did now?

"It doesn't matter," Althar repeated. His voice was growing duller. Calmer. It was not clipped or smoothed. It was no longer unhinged. It was as if Soren was slowly immersing him in honey.

"Of course it does," she answered. Talos longed for her. His need growing as Althar was being soothed.

"They can't call to me. I broke the commlink. They have never come," he shimmied his left shoulder so the bindings rubbed over his heart. Over his tracker the Council never activated.

"Why did you break it?" Talos asked. He knew but he wanted to hear him say it. He understood the temptation. Althar's sunset coloured eyes looked up at him as if he had forgotten Talos. Who could remember him when Soren was pouring herself over them?

"They wouldn't let me leave. Althar was dying. They wouldn't help him. I had to take him."

Talos could imagine the desperation. Being made to stay still when instinct said to run. A broken commlink could force the Council's hand. Or it could maroon an asset. What a blow, to learn the Council was happy to forget you?

"Tell me your name and we can send them for you. Would you like to be yourself again?" Soren released her hold and backed away a little. Althar leaned towards her following her hands.

"Bezu," he whispered. The name cracked against his tongue. Talos' heart hammered. He knew the name. He could almost picture the young foot soldier. He had served under Talos' father. He had been charming and swaggering. Talos could see him in his childhood home. His mother kissing his father's cheek. Then Bezu's, as his father bandaged a wound on Bezu's arm.

Soren moved away and returned to Talos' side. She took his hand and woke him from his memories.

"You know him?" She whispered. Talos could only nod. "What should we do?"

Talos looked at her and swallowed jealousy that was sharp like Zendinar conkers.

"We take the ship. We go to the others. We send Eros for the part."

"What about Bezu?" The man shifted as he heard his name.

"We leave him."

"Talos," she hissed.

He looked at her. He shook her shoulders as if that would pull her from her well of kindness.

"He could still tell the Council. The Kree are here. The Council cannot come as well."

"And if he dies? Then they will certainly come. You are wasting an opportunity."

Talos released her shoulders feeling helpless. "Then what would you have us do?"

Bezu was listening intently. He was sick. He needed help. He needed to leave but beneath his skin lurked the same threat. They could not help them.

"We take the ship. We leave him for now. Once we have the compressor we will send Bal-Kar to him. He can decide if the Separtists will meet the Council or not."

"And when they call for me?"

"We tell them the truth. They will need to come for Bezu."

Talos looked at her. It was neat. It was effective. Soren's mind never ceased to amaze him. He wanted to kiss her.

"Fine," he relented. He leaned his forehead into hers. He wished he could relax and absorb the same softness from her. He wished he knew how to solve his problems with kindness.

He turned to Bezu and walked to the table. He looked like a sweating wild animal.

"We are taking the ship," Talos said calmly lowering the lamp so the purple light dimmed and dimmed. "A man will come for you. The Council wants him. Together you will contact them. Do not try and find me. Or her."

They were in the dark and Soren was already moving towards the door. She stepped through it first into the darkened hangar. Talos made to follow but Bezu's voice, calm and floating, stopped him. He was resigned to his fate Talos realized. A complacency and hopelessness Talos understood.

"Avlan's son, have you left us?" He sounded forlorn. Talos bit his cheek. He turned to look at the shadow of his father's old friend.

"The light of Skrullos still burns," he whispered before following Soren's footsteps into more darkness.


	38. Chapter 38

The soft close of the door left Talos in the darkened hangar. He moved his pack on his shoulder gingerly, the place the baton had pressed was still tender. Bezu, strapped to the chair and laughing, floated in front of his eyes like a spectre. The Elders had abandoned him. It was a fate that had never felt real to Talos. That one day the Council would simply stop answering. Would he have been a fool like Bezu and clung to his post? Before Woh-Lar had come he had felt the oppression on Cairn. The hopelessness. And yet he didn't rebel. Until he met her. Until he was faced with her loss and it had driven him into the unknown.

And yet he was still clinging. Still unwilling to defect completely. To say words more potent and damning than words of love. Words of resignation. Words of parting. His people were defined by their desire to return. Return to their loved ones. Return to the way things had once been. Return to their government who lorded over them promises of a future that no one believed in.

He could see her moving between the rows of small land vehicles. Silhouetted by the dull, dust-scratched panels of glass on the far end of the hangar. Could he find solace and a future in the Ulohmu? Could he compromise his beliefs and his conflicted feelings when confronted by the coldness of his handlers?

Even feeling tied to her by a thousand invisible threads he could not bow to her convictions. He realized now the answer did not lie with the Council or with the Ulohmu. There was a middle path.

He kept his steps slow and his heart shielded as she reached back for him. He pressed against her but did not let her in. They would need to talk but not now.

Soren slipped through the hangar doors. She could feel Talos behind her, solid but impenetrable. She eased her reaching, her body was buzzing with unspent concern but she had nothing to offer him at this moment. Too much had happened in too short a time. She wondered now if it had been the ship that called her or had it been Bezu? Unknowing, unmeaning. A lonely fractured heart calling to the universe that they were there waiting. Her resolve hardened to investigate Sordona. To find peace between the Ulohmu and the Elders of Skrullos. To find the bridge to walk between them. She would not let this fate befall Talos. She would be his woman in every meaning of the word. She would not let him fall friendless between the cracks. She would be the one that remembered him.

She looked across the lot. Scanning the other ships. Willing one to find her. Light glinted in the distance. Bouncing off the curved shield of a cruiser. She took off towards it. She heard footsteps behind her. She knew Talos pursued her, confused and blinking in the sun. When she reached it she found a snub nosed black cruiser. Larger up close but low and squat to the ground compared to _the Fedjaeger_. She opened the gang plank from the access panel it was small and tight. She ducked in. It led immediately into the raised living quarters. Cargo was stored beneath, she could catch the shadows of panels in the floor if she squinted. A smuggler's ship masquerading as a pleasure vessel. She smiled as walked she rest of the way up the incline.

"Permission to come aboard, Captain?" Talos called from the ground.

"Granted," Soren called back, moving to look at the cockpit. She heard Talos' heavy boots on the metal as she ducked below the console. She slid open the panel to look at the innards.

She heard a chuckle as she squinted in the darkness.

"I think this will always be how I picture you," he shifted his pack to the ground. His hand moved thoughtlessly beneath his jacket.

"And how is that?" She asked pulling her body from beneath the console.

"Tirelessly meddling somewhere you don't fit," he teased looking around the ship.

There was not much to see. A small kitchenette mounted on the wall. Tight privy in the back. Table and chairs bolted to the ground and a bunk. He heard Soren's short laugh as he felt the ship whirr to life below his feet. He felt the pressure change as the life systems booted up.

"Close quarters," he commented turning back in a low circle. His fingers continued torturing the burning flesh in his side so he did not have to think about why she was looking at such a small ship.

"The life systems support two," she shrugged crossing to him. He stayed still. She pulled his jacket away and he quirked his brow at her. She touched the place he had been prodding. The heat raidated from it. She seemed always aware. She could feel his fingers worry his wound as acutely as she could plumb the complex workings of the ship.

She led him to the bunk and pushed him down. His knees bent willingly. An access panel contained a med kit. She rifled through checking the expiry dates. She turned to him shaking a small foil package. Inside was a small white towelette, soaked in medicine. It smelled of booze and herbs. A strange smell that lived in his memory of scraped knees and small burns. Soren pulled his shirt away from his waistband and slid her hand under the linen.

"Only two?" He asked pulling air through his teeth as the cold sunk into the burn.

"Maybe three," she answered smiling up at him as she leaned in closer. His hands instinctively reached for her. Fingertips curling into the waistband of her trousers.

"How about four?"

She laughed softly, the cold compress was warmed by his wound. She turned it pressing the other side to his flesh. He pulled her closer and she let him. Her head fell forward and she let her forehead meet his shoulder.

"If we were sensible. It would be tight." She turned her head so her cheek lay against the worn leather of his jacket. He tilted his head so his chin rested on her crown. Her palm could feel the heat again. The medicine had done all it could but she held there still. Content to wait a moment longer.

"Not five then?" She poked the hard curve of his stomach. He exhaled laughing. "Fine. Not five. Where would they all sleep?"

"We will figure that out when it comes to it," she said pulling her hand away from his side.

"Will we?" He repeated thickly as she pulled away.

She shrugged discarding the packaging. His shirt stuck where the medicine had been. The tender raised flesh was cold but deep beneath the medicine tingled warm like the first shot of brandy.

"This ship sleeps two."

"I thought you wanted me to return to the Council?"

"I thought you wanted to do this together?"

He straightened, his spine felt like a live wire as he reached for her. She stepped away, eyes searching his. He understood, it was dizzying touching each other. It clouded the senses. He settled for stepping closer to her. He tried to ease his defenses, to allow some small thread of his feelings to slip through. He thought she shivered. A small tensing of her muscles as he reached for her with his senses. This way of speaking across an invisible bridge still eluded him. He wondered if it had been this way between his father and mother, their strengths at odds with one another.

"You will hear things, see pieces of me I am not proud of," he said softly. He wanted her to understand that even he could not enumerate all the ways this war had broken him. That those pieces had calcified so he did not even know what was not as it should be.

She nodded, "the people I have helped, the ones that owe me favours or that I owe a debt to, are not always the ones I would want them to be. They are not pure and noble friends."

He reached his hand out and she looked at it for a moment.

"As a General of the People of Skrullos' army I pledge my assistance to you, Soren, Captain of the Ulohmu. That we may set right the wrongs between our people."

She smiled and gripped his wrist, their arms locked together.

"As Captain of the Ulohmu, I accept your offer General Talos. That we may find peace between our sides."

* * *

Eros touched down in the ship yard as the daylight faded. He looked up at the handsome ship and saw immediately why Soren had picked it. There was a beauty that drew the eye, an elegance not just in the shape but in the craftsmanship. He ran a hand over the plating and admired the sheen. He did not know who built ships this way but this example was singular. It was like a chip of the night sky. The Ulohmu would be in good hands aboard it. Eros hesitated. He worried for his allies. He felt among them exhaustion and confusion. He had landed in the centre of their tents the night before and green heads had ducked out to look at him. The ones he knew emerged dragging with them new faces. Some looked scared at the man who could fly without a ship. He smiled at them and walked among the tents his eyes scanning for her. Soren had said she was here but as with every parting and return a small fear ticked like clockwork that he would find his friend missing. His ally gone.

"Always making an entrance," she chastised from the flap of her tent. He turned to see her. She quirked her brow at him and her dark eyes sparkled.

"What's the point of having the gift of flight if you don't use it to impress people?" He called out crossing through the few tents to where she waited for him.

"What brings you here?" She asked dropping the flap as she went inside, he followed her a grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. He had to duck as he was too tall for the low sloping roof.

"Would you believe me if I said you?" He teased her. She flopped on her cot and rested on her elbows, her feet kicked out in front of her. She rolled her eyes.

"Not even for a minute."

"Soren called me," he said softly. Tank's grin froze, as did the jaunty swaying of her foot.

"Did you raise _the Ibu-Ibu_?"

"It was already lost."

Tank didn't move. She didn't betray any emotion. She stood and paced a little. He watched her.

"Why did Soren bring you here then? And why did you come?" She stopped to look at him directly her chin tilted defiantly. Tank never called him. He knew better than to expect it. He was convenient and enthusiastic but she didn't fool herself about the elasticity of his heart. She could tease him though, call him faithless.

"I came because I was needed. She didn't ask me to. If anything I surprised her," he let the tenor of his voice drop and a mischevious look come into his eyes. Tank absorbed his meaning for a moment before throwing her head back and laughing.

"You've met him then?" She gave him a prurient look, a wicked grin twitching her lips.

Eros loosened the clasps on his suit and sat on the cot. "I believe he nearly stabbed me for intruding."

"Can you blame him?" She asked her voice teasing as she slunk towards him. A familar confident sway to her hips. "Finally get the girl you've been desperate for alone and then a big handsome brute is knocking at your door."

Eros slid back an inch on the cot so she could bring one knee between his legs as the other one bracketed his thigh. She was short enough he barely had to tilt his head. He wrapped his hands around her waist. She crinkled her nose at him. It was adorable. He adored her. She wrapped her arms around his neck, leaning her weight into him.

"I would have invited him to join us," he said licentiously. She laughed running her fingers through his red hair.

"That is where you and Talos are different. I think he would rather eat her than share her."

"Is that you would like my friend? A man to be rabid for you?" She tugged his hair so his chin tilted up.

"I would not be a good match for a jealous man. I have never had Soren's focus."

"I have always found you very focused. You accomplish even the most monumentous of tasks."

"You are flattering me so I go easy on you," she purred at him. He wanted to kiss her so badly. He knew she would let him. He wanted to shake off the last clinging pieces of Soren's sorrow and uncertainty. Pain he could not alleviate. Necessary pain.

"She said you would be mad I came to her first."

"Livid," she mocked him shoving him hard. He willingly fell back on the cot, she clambered up with him.

"I should see Indes," he said half heartedly as she pulled apart the closures of his armour. She slipped a hand beneath.

"Later," Tank purred. She curled forward and kissed him. He caught her by the back of the neck and held her to his mouth. He drew breath slowly sealing her to him so it felt like she filled his lungs. He released her catching her mouth in small soft kisses as his hand smoothed over her neck.

"If you tell me why you came to this shithole I can stay longer," he teased his hands finding their way beneath her shirt.

"While I admire your technique of information gathering," Tank murmured against his skin as she pushed his armour from his shoulders. His feet were still firmly on the ground. "Indes has told no one her intentions here."

Eros paused. The wrongness struck him immediately.

"Not even the mothers?"

"You could ask Veda," Tank answered him slipping her hand over him and squeezing gently as he groaned. "But I suggest you bring a different weapon."

He shucked her off of him and stood so he could hurriedly pull away his armour. A millenia had made him efficient in its removal, but it was hardly seductive. Tank's hands fell to her own clothes. Unlacing her boots and tossing them with a thud on the ground.

"Do you have a bunk mate?" He asked glancing over his shoulder at the unmade cot across the tent.

"She is a smart girl. She can sleep somewhere else," Tank shrugged slipping beneath the meager linens. He worried she would be cold after he left. He joined her, rolling her small body easily beneath him, trying not to notice how his feet stuck out the end of the bed.

"This is why Soren hated sharing with you," he mocked her.

"Are you interrogating me or talking about Soren," Tank bit his chin gently, scraping her teeth in mock annoyance. He shook her off.

"You don't have any information. You said so yourself."

"You give up easily," she toyed with him, she kissed him again as she wrapped one leg about him.

"I have ways of making you talk," he kissed his way along her jaw as she laughed spreading her fingers into the muscles of his shoulders. Eros let his worries fade away. For a moment at least.

"Tank," a hesitant voice called through the canvas. Tank groaned and Eros froze his tongue midway through licking the long tendon in her neck.

"I am busy, Thalla," Tank called back.

"Indes wants him," there was a small shadow paused outside the canvas. As Eros rolled to the side he could see what looked like a young Skrull worrying her hands.

"Now?" Tank asked impatiently.

"Her exact words were 'tell that boy to get off Tank and get his tight butt in here', but I didn't want to say that," the girl answered back. Her voice had its own steel. Eros laughed softly resting his head in the crook of Tank's shoulders.

"Tell her I will be there in a moment," Eros called and the girl jumped at the new deep voice. She took off as he slipped from the bed. Tank made a pathetic sound and rolled to her stomach.

"Stop sulking," he teased as she watched him with her dark eyes. She rested her head on her arms, her bare back moved with lean muscle, ripples of dark green dappled with pale citron fanned from her spine like the markings of a jungle cat. They were the result of growing up undernourished. Her whole body bore the marks of it. They were beautiful even as they awakened his anger at the injustice of the universe. Yet Tank had survived it all and thrived with a smile on her face. That was why he liked her she was bold as brass and as strong iron. Emerged from the earth like metals bending but unbreakable.

"I am not a fan of Indes' timing," she retorted. "I had different plans for the evening than answering my bunkmate's questions about men and women. Talos was one thing. You fly. Think of the mechanics."

"I often do," he answered her sitting on the bed, his armour pulled up to his hips. He stretched his leg out so his boots did not touch the linens. "There was a time Indes would have come to greet me."

"Are you complaining about your welcome?" She asked sliding closer to him. She pressed a kiss against the bunched muscle of his stomach. He brushed his fingers over her cheek affectionately.

"Never," he soothed. He reached his mind into hers finding the small twists of neurons where pleasure lived. He tangled himself there and she sighed turning her cheek to rest on his stomach.

"Don't be a tease," she admonished him. "Indes is waiting."

"You heard the girl, 'tell the boy to get off Tank' was Indes' first instruction."

Tank laughed, relaxing and letting him move through her mind. Tracing and illuminating as she purred and curled into him. She was completely open to him. He met no resistance or hesitation. She shuddered a little as he traced a particularly complex pattern through the bodies and structures of her mind. He prodded her further, "there must be an answer though. Why she didn't greet me? Why she was not among the others?"

She hit him softly as she convulsed a little, she laughed at him, "I will never talk. No matter how much you try to work the truth out of me."

She should know better than to challenge him. She did know better. She was goading him. He wound her tighter, watching as her body twitched. He felt her breath change as it huffed across his stomach.

"Tell me, my friend, what is going on?" He coaxed her and she thumped her fist above his hip. He barely felt her protesting as her pleasure seeped across their connection. "What is weighing on Indes and the others?"

She thrashed a little, panting as he found a particularly dense structure. She was laughing and bearing her teeth at the same time. He plucked inside her mind more fervently. She was shaking, with a swipe he lit up every bend and turn he could find and she rolled off him spine arching and feet twisting in the covers.

When she relaxed she covered her face with her hands and groaned into her palms. When she was done she dropped her hands and turned to look at him, a frustrated gleam in her eyes. "I hate you."

He grinned and leaned down closer to her. He whispered, "no you don't."

She rolled her eyes and turned away from him. He put his hand over the dip in her waist and drummed his fingers expectantly. She groaned again before sighing.

"I don't know," she said at last. "I don't know why Indes has been cloistering herself or why we came here."

"And the others?"

Tank rolled back to him, she crossed her arms over her head and kept her eyes on one of the seams of the tent.

"We have been at this too long," she sighed, her fingers smoothed over her forearms. "We have forgotten how to raise each other. Forgotten what it is like to see it all for the first time."

Eros nodded. He knew what she meant. Even if she had only been alive a fraction of a fraction of his lifetime and fighting for even a smaller portion of that, it wore a body down so quickly.

"Rhondar was handled badly," he agreed. There had been too many moving parts and the Ulohmu had been out of their depths. The Rhondarian Ecological Liberation Force had pushed a hesitant bridge between the Ulohmu and the Kree Separatists. That alone would have caused fear in the newer members moving planetside among their sisters for the first time. Then there had been the deal for the bombs. Three charges, requiring Indes' direct involvement pulling her back into a role she had not served since her youth.

A twisted black web that dripped with Rhondarian blood as sparkling as dew.

"We couldn't know what they planned," Tank closed her eyes. Eros had not been on Rhondar, but he could feel her distress. He reached for her with his mind again. Already seeing the blue glow of heartbreak.

"No," she sat up and covered her temples with her hands. She recoiled from him and he retreated, ashamed. "I want to feel it."

"My apologies," he stood his hands raised in surrender. "It has become a habit."

"Not with me," she ground home, wrapping herself in the thin covers. He nodded. He had already overstayed his time, Indes was waiting.

"I must see Indes."

"Her quarters are on the ship," Tank answered him, she looked away as he pulled on the rest of his armour fastening it across his chest.

"Forgive me first," he walked to the cot and leaned close to her. She worried her lip. "We have been friends too long to distrust each other now."

She tilted her face to look at him, "is Soren going to leave?"

He pulled away, her question surprised him.

"She loves him," he said simply. Tank looked at her hands and nodded. "But you knew that."

"He could live with us," she said softly. Eros felt it was an open invitation. She did not just mean the Skrullos General but Eros as well. He shook his head.

"He could have defected by now, if he was going to."

"But he loves her?"

"Love isn't enough."

"Why not?" She looked up at him. She was mourning her sister already. Mourning him as he would not return to her tonight or again on Trillium.

"What conquers is not what feeds us," he answered opaquely. It was a poor translation of a Titan saying. She laughed a soft wet laugh.

"And what is for dinner when we have been conquered by love?" She teased him wiping away an errant tear with the heel of her hand. Grinding the moisture back into her skin so she could deny its existence.

"Conviction. Trust. Forgiveness. What is toppled by love is fed by what is harder to find within us. And around us. He cannot bend to serve another master no more than she can."

"And if we don't have that inside us are we doomed to starve?"

He didn't want to leave her heartbroken but his promise not to give her false comfort was still freshly spoken. He knelt in front of the cot and took her hands. She gave them to him with a wary look. He turned them over and rubbed his thumbs over her calloused palms.

"I have met many people. I have yet to find one who is as hopeless and lost as they feel," he said tracing her lifeline. "Patience, my friend, one day all this suffering will make sense."

"And how long have you travelled alone to be no closer to understanding your own suffering?"

"Only one thousand years," he answered her with a grin. She pushed his shoulder and he let her go. She stuck her tongue out at him and smiled.

He left her. He had gone abroad the ship. It was quiet. It seemed the majority of the Skrulls were outside in tents. The ship was small it made sense none were eager to camp inside.

He found the Captain's quarters immediately. He knocked on the door.

"Come in," Indes soft voice called as the door opened. Veda greeted him, she grunted her welcome and nodded her head. Indes was sitting at the table, Reema and her small child were on the bunk. Neva was there sitting sullenly in the other chair. Dania was at the kitchenette. To his surprise, a man stood behind Indes.

"I didn't realize all the mothers had been called," Eros quipped. "I would have hurried."

Indes raised her brow as she blew across her cup of tea. "I am sure your company would have had complaints."

"The Ulohmu comes first for all your members. Tank, as a guardian, would have me put your needs first."

"With only a little whining," Veda growled as she stood straight, her body turned slightly towards the door. She looked stern but Eros knew she was not immune to his complimenting her trainee.

"Enough that I know I am always welcome," Eros answered with a grin.

"You are," Indes said her shrewd eyes narrowed slightly, "but I would have you tell me why you have come."

"Soren called me. She needed a contact. As this planet is not known for its hospitality I decided to come in person."

"You are a generous ally," Indes sipped her tea.

"When I have the ability to be I take pleasure in it."

"How did you arrive?" The man asked, "I heard no ship land."

A look was shared among the mothers. Eros' mouth opened slightly.

"I flew."

"Eros needs no ship," Reema answered looking up from her cooing child. "The Ulohmu has a god on our side."

"The flighted man, by chance?" Dek asked looking to from Indes to Eros.

"You have lost me, my friend," Eros quirked his head at the strange interloper to the mothers' circle.

"Dek was a Keeper for the Elders of Skrullos before he came here," Indes clarified. "His knowledge of the Epic of Skrullos is shamefully unmatched among our number."

"Above the soil of Skrullos, polluted by the fallen, did streak in smoke-burned sky the flighted man. Who looked but did not land." Dek quoted. He blinked his watery eyes. In his gut Eros felt a stab. He had been briefly at the final Battle of Skrullos. He had been young and unprepared to commit himself to a side. It appeared his failings had been remembered.

"I could not say," he answered lightly. "There was a time when there were more of us."

Dania's eyes focused on him but he did not look to her. If she saw his sorrow and regret he trusted it was in safe hands.

"It does not matter," Indes interrupted. "Let us focus on the history we are shaping."

Eros quirked his head. He grinned but something in him unsettled. His eyes flicked to Dek again. He was watching him acutely.

"The ripples from Rhondar shook the Three Empires," Eros turned his focus from Dek to Indes again. "You have picked an unusual place to lie low."

Indes smiled enigmatically. She reached for Dania with her mind. A natural soothing habit, Eros interloped across their bridge without meaning to.

"Rhondar has shaken us all. The Revolutionaries there accomplished enough without us. It was our time to leave before we shouldered the blame."

"You mean because they crushed their own people then cried wolf to the Nova Empire?"

Indes bristled. "The Kree are vicious colonizers but because their mechanisms and buildings stand the Empires ignore the suffering of the people. If their perceived incompetence finally brings scrutiny to their practices then it is better to label the lives lost as heroes rather than victims."

"Were they given a choice for their role?" Eros asked softly, "did the children sent down by the Kree understand what it means to shape history?"

"None of us truly have a choice. History is an animal that way. It takes what it is fed and turns it to shit. And the winners get the glory of picking through it."

The air was charged with anger Eros had been unprepared to encounter. He had thought they felt the same. A lesson he still had to learn that even in agreement of principle there were facets.

"I have come with other news," he said gently. He reigned back the desire to sooth the room. They would know and they would resent him. "I have seen Soren and the General."

A different wave passed through the gathered Skrulls. Hope tinged with worry and with something a kin to envy. A complicated medley he could not sort through.

"He has still not defected?" Dania asked her brow drawing together. She crossed the room and slipped her hand into Indes'.

"But are they mated?" Reema asked.

It seemed Soren was right that the mothers knew her heart better than she did.

"The General will not defect," Eros said simply. "Soren has accepted this. I suggest you also harden yourselves to the truth."

His eyes moved subtly to Dek. He had been silent. Stillness was always suspicious. Perhaps the man had not seen what the women had.

"Then will the Elders use him to find us?"

"He has convinced them to allow him to stay as a spy through the exchange of information."

"What information?" Indes asked with a tight throat. Her tea was abandoned cooling on the table. Dania held her tighter.

"The Elders of Skrullos know about the Kree Separatists on Rhondar. And they know about the bombs."

A ripple passed through. Neva could hold her anger no longer.

"That foolish lustful girl has betrayed us," she hurled at Indes.

"Her hand was forced," Eros soothed. He allowed his powers to slip a little, to carry his next words softly to each mothers' ears so they could truly hear him. "Sordona was attacked. The Kree retaliated by killing every Skrull they could find. The Elders have laid the blame at your door."

"What are we going to do?" Reema's stricken voice came from the bed. She was pale. Her child fussed as she held them too tightly. Indes was silent, her head bowed. Sorrow poured from her as if she anticipated what he was about to say.

"Soren is securing a new ship. For you. I will meet with the Kree Separatists, one of their number is on planet. We will convince them to meet with the Elders. That will assuage them and prove the value of leaving the General among you."

"For how long? How do we know you will not forge a stronger enemy for us?"

"Long enough for Soren and the General to leave Trillium together."

"She will be alone," Indes said softly. "Vulnerable."

"Talos will guard her," Dania soothed.

"She belongs with her people," Indes turned to her mate. Her face contorted with a mother's anger. "You told me to trust him. He has stolen her from us."

"Talos is the bridge," Dania answered her mate. She bent awkwardly so she knelt in front of her wife. She reached for her. Eros felt like an intruder as he felt the conviction pour from Dania. "They will do what we could not. We raised her to carry our people, not hide among them. This has always been her path, my love. Do not try to hold her back from it."

"She is too young," Indes argued back. The room held their breath. Together they mourned. Skrulls by their nature absorbed. There was no moment too intimate to be shared. Each mothers' heart reached for the grieving parents. Eros was breathless with it. His loneliness more complete than ever before.

"One hundred years would be too short a time," Dania's glinting hand traced her lover's ear. "But we cannot stop when our fate meets us. We must trust the woman she is now."

Indes nodded and looked at last to Eros.

"What does the Spy need from us?"

"For you to leave Trillium. To hide, so Soren's heart is at ease and she can focus."

"That is all? To run?"

"You have given him your greatest treasure. He may be a tight-lipped bastard about it but he is not insensible."

"And what will you do?"

"I must intercede with the Kree Separatists. If they are to remain neutral, their connection to the Elders must be carefully managed. Sordona has angered them as well."

"It seems another enemy has been waiting for us," Indes turned to Dek. "You were on Sordona before the attacks, did nothing seem out of place?"

Eros' head turned sharply to look at the man.

"The Kree were in the process of exterminating an entire religion that had served as the structure of the planet for thousands of years. They brought an attack on themselves. When we rescued Thalla's brother he was the only survivor of his temple."

"How did Thwane survive when the others did not?" Reema asked in a hushed voice. Eros could hear her affection for the Skrull.

Dek looked at his feet and blinked. At last he shrugged, "a question for Thwane."

Eros felt again the churning in his gut like a wriggling fish stirring up the muck.

"We will talk to him," Indes said finally. "And we will leave Trillium. Assure Soren she does not need to worry for us."

That had been the end of the interview. He had left feeling weighted by the constant partings of war.

When Soren had called he had come to her.

* * *

He walked to the open mouth of the ship. The gang plank was left lowered, welcoming him. He called up for Soren as he mounted the incline. Waiting for him was the General.

"You came quickly," he remarked looking Eros up and down. "Did you find the part?"

Eros produced the pump and the General snatched it from his hands. He turned it in the dim light as if inspecting its trueness.

"Do you know what you are looking at?" Eros asked glibly and the General snarled his lip.

"Shut up," he growled taking the part down the hall. Eros smiled. He wondered if the General knew what a fun toy he made. He followed him at a discreet distance. He could tell by the set of his shoulders he was irritated.

He ducked into a panel, and Eros stood on the edge looking in. He watched the man crouch next to Soren, leaning in to speak gently in her ear. She turned and scrunched her nose at him, saying something back. It was a touching scene, Eros felt a well of gratitude to the universe for giving Soren a partner. An injustice on its way to being righted. A spark of happiness in the darkness. Dania had called them a bridge. Eros had seen so many lives in his unnaturally long life that he knew the future turned on these tiny moments.

The General emerged from the panel and reached back to lift Soren through. Eros shook off his revery and grinned as she wiped grease on her shirt.

"How is everyone?" She asked with an eager smile. He felt his smile falter.

"Concerned. As is the way of mothers," he remarked. He pointed towards the galley and she nodded following him there.

"Did Indes tell you why she came here?" Soren asked eagerly sitting in a chair.

"No," Eros sat across from her, rapping his knuckles on the metal. "I think this all leads back to Rhondar."

Soren paused, her eyes darting to Talos. "Rhondar was a tragedy but it wasn't the Ulohmu's fault-"

"Something is not how it should be," Eros said flatly. He glanced at the General who had stiffened. "You have all felt it."

Soren bristled. The General's hands twitched as if he wanted to go to her but he stayed rooted.

"Sordona, Rhondar, Cairn it all comes back to the Kree. As it always does," Soren answered him. "They upset the balance. They spread with impunity and when they face the consequences they lash out."

"The Ulohmu have been helping the consequences find them. Is it balance when it comes from deception? Indes feels it is. Do you agree with her?"

Soren looked away. She wanted to argue with Eros. To say these last few months were just the natural parting of children and parents. That Eros had no right to judge them as he came and went as he pleased.

"She is already uneasy. Many things have happened since last you met."

"Has she ever concealed her reasons for coming to a planet before? What is here for you?"

"The Kree have come maybe she-"

"She did not know they were here," Talos interjected. "She found out when we did."

"This planet is inhospitable," Eros argued. "Think Soren. You know her better than any of us why would she hide her purpose?"

Soren worried her thumb and racked her brain. Eros looked between her and Talos. "I can think of only one thing."

"What?" Eros asked moving closer to her.

"Before we parted on Rhondar Emerys must have told her something. Something that made her look to Trillium. Something old enough in Woh-Lar's research that the Kree are here even though Woh-Lar is dead. A dangerous resource," she said looking down. Indes would not be proud of this reason. She did not speak easily of her time making bombs for the Elders. The destruction she saw and her deadly hand in it. She had reluctantly turned her skill into credits on Rhondar.

"You think she means to make another bomb?"

"Not by her own choice. She must have been convinced by something. Something must have swayed her," Soren defended her mother.

"Sordona," Talos said lowly moving his hand over his jaw. "We need to know what happened there."

"What about Bal-Kar?" Soren said turning to Eros again. "Has he agreed to meet with the Council?"

"He has- in a way," Eros hesitated.

"What does that mean?" Talos grunted.

"He is coming here first," Eros said hesitantly. "He wishes to speak with you."

At that moment the ship groaned as the boots came up the gang plank.


	39. Chapter 39

Talos had never wished for a blaster so powerfully in his life. He felt immobilized by the razor's edge between violence and uncertainty. Soren and Eros had gone still but they seemed to be pulling something from the air that he was immune to. The footsteps drew closer. They echoed in the empty ship. He could hear the minutiae of movement. The slight pivot and grinding of toes into the metal floor as the interloper sauntered towards them.

The blaster came around the corner before the man. Talos tensed, his eyes darted to Soren his mind already calculating how he would extract her. She was calm. She leaned back against her chair one arm bent so she slouched slightly. Her chin was tilted as if she was encountering some new wild life rather than the muzzle of a blaster. Talos exhaled slowly as his eyes slid to Eros, he forced his body to relax, slouching against the galley counter. His foot braced against the bank, ready to fling himself toward Soren at the least sign of trouble.

As Bal-Kar rounded the corner he was encountered by the three of them waiting quietly. His eyes darted around the room, pinging from one to the other before he raised his blaster pointing the barrel to the ceiling. His wrist turned to display his finger was off the trigger.

"Always good to have a warm welcome," he drawled taking a step into the room.

"Bal-Kar," Eros said warmly reaching out to the man with his hand. Bal-Kar clipped his blaster to his belt. He was not in his Kree armour. If it had not been for the blue hue to his skin he could have been any port dweller in a loose shirt and sagging hide trousers. He took Eros' hand and gripped his wrist.

"Rooka," he said looking into Eros' eyes as he clapped him on his shoulder. "It is an unkind fate that has us always meeting this way."

"Always on the same side, I hope," Eros answered him back. Talos moved his head side to side cracking his neck and feeling his bile rise as the two men greeted each other. Bal-Kar's gaze shifted to Soren and Talos' bent thigh tensed.

"Captain," Bal-Kar released Eros and moved his hand to rub his chin. "We meet again."

"By your design," Talos grunted. Bal-Kar looked at him for the first time.

"A new face," he remarked cooly. He sniffed and his hand brushed along his belt skimming his clip.

"General Talos is here from the Elders of Skrullos' army," Soren answered in a low soft voice. Talos was struck how much she sounded like Indes. Bal-Kar kept his gaze locked with Talos.

"An unusual bedfellow," Bal-Kar remarked, Talos' lip curled. The Kree ignored him shuffling a pack off his shoulder. He dropped it on the table with a rattle and a clank. Talos flinched ready to dive forward but Soren moved to it first, her eyes wide. "A peace offering."

"My pack," Soren said gleefully, her hand tracing the buckles.

"How did you find that?" Talos grunted.

Bal-Kar sat across from Soren, he slouched down in his chair. Talos kept an eye on him feeling as if his chest was banded in iron like a barrel and he could not breathe.

"It found me," he said his lip twitching his pale mustache. "I came around the back way and found two scavengers going through it."

Soren's quick fingers flicked open the fastenings and she began to dig to the bottom. She pulled out a small lacquer box and rattled it. She smiled when it made a sound.

"Treasure?" Bal-Kar asked with a smooth lift of his eyebrow.

"Almost," she tucked the box back again and put the pack under the table. Bal-Kar's eyes swept the galley.

"This ship is like nothing I have seen before," he remarked. The galley was unusual. The walls curved and where set with small black irridescent tiles. The counters and fixtures swelled from the floor and walls in burnished copper. Soren's eyes followed his.

"I think it is some sort of interface. It's throughout but I haven't found the trick to it."

"You will," Eros assured her and Talos bit his tongue. He didn't need Bal-Kar to know they would not be aboard long. They were all being too calm too polite and it made Talos' skin crawl.

"What brings you to Trillium?" Bal-Kar asked. He unclipped his weapon and considered it. There was no implied threat in his demeanor. His hands were steady and to all outside eyes he was relaxed.

"We were in need of a ship," Soren answered him. Bal-Kar's eyes moved from the stock of his blaster to meet Soren's eyes.

"This is an odd place to choose," he said steadily. He put down his weapon and produced from the inside pocket of his coat a small box.

Soren shrugged, "why are the Kree here?"

Bal-Kar smiled, he turned the box over and over between his pinched thumb and index. It made a small rattle as he turned it.

"We are a curious people. The survey and understanding of foreign planets is of great concern to us. Everything in this universe deserves to reach its full potential," Bal-Kar answered smoothly. He put the box down next to his blaster. Talos felt his disdain rise.

"And the information you gather, do you intend to share it with the Trill?"

"I am sure the Supremor will make them aware of it."

"We had hoped to find a path between our sides," Eros glided smoothly into the conversation. Bal-Kar ignored him.

"We lost one of our men in the jungle," Bal-Kar stated. He ran a finger over his blaster again. 

"It can happen," Talos said softly. He dug his fingers into the counter. The Kree was doing nothing to ease his fears. Bal-Kar looked to Soren again.

"Is your leader here? Why does she not meet me?"

Soren hesitated. Bal-Kar looked down for a moment before laughing to himself softly and tilted his head, his hand caressed his weapon. He looked to Eros with a wry defeated grin on his face.

"Rooka, Rooka, Rooka," he said softly his voice had the low sing song quality of a man on the edge of his patience. "You want me to trust you. To work with you and yet there can be no transparency between us."

Talos' eyes stayed trained on the hand that caressed the blaster.

"Bal-Kar-" Eros began his voice placating. Talos felt a soothing lull descend. A sharp look from Soren made the cloud retreat. Eros ran his hand through his hair in frustration.

"Transparency is not easy between our sides," Soren interrupted him.

"Are any of us on the same side?" Bal-Kar asked his eyes moving between them. 

"The General and I are trying to understand each other," Soren said in an even tone. "We believe we have a shared enemy who seeks to keep our sides apart. They attack your people as well. We may have our conflict but it is short-sighted of us to let it become a weapon against us."

Bal-Kar weighed her words for a moment. His hand stopped touching the blaster and picked up the box.

"There is a plate on your access panel," he said. "A weigh stamp from the Port at Hanastar-7. It marks this ship as coming from the Pama Galaxy."

"Your point?" Talos growled.

"Probably a reclaim fron Ravagers."

Talos gave him an impatient look. He found this Kree particularly opaque. "This is a Council asset, I see no reason to question its origin."

"I only meant there is probably a bottle of Ravager's Swill stashed in a lower cupboard. I don't know about you, General but when I commit treason I like to have a drink in one hand and tiles in the other."

Bal-Kar tipped out the box and a stack of thin plastiglass tiles slid into his palm.

"You are familiar with Scaruband, Captain?" Bal-Kar asked smoothly. "It is excellent for bartering favours."

"We aren't playing games-" Talos growled.

"Talos," Soren held Bal-Kar's eyes. "See if you can find a bottle."

Bal-Kar grinned and Talos longed to put a thumb in his eye.

"While we are bartering," Soren continued, she took up the stack and began to shuffle, "Eros go collect Bezu from the hangar. We have left him too long. Make sure he is in a good mood."

Eros nodded and left the ship. Talos found a bottle covered in exhaust dust and stashed at the farthest corner of the bottom cupboard. Ravager's Swill was not regular liquor. It was closer to an anaesthetic. He had seen it used to perform amateur surgery when things had gone bad on a mission. He put it down heavily on the table.

"Why bring him here?" Talos asked lowly to Soren. He could feel Bal-Kar's eyes on their lips.

"He can't stay in the hangar. He is ill," she answered him beneath her breath.

"You are being too soft to him," he answered her. She fixed him with a look and he grunted. He paced the galley. She was going to drive him to distraction. No matter how wrong it was he wanted to lock her away from all this. He hated any ugliness touching her as fervently as he felt the drawn to her bold competency staring down the Kree.

"Are we expecting company?" Bal-Kar asked carefully.

"Bezu will be your contact if you agree to help us."

"He is stark raving-"

"He is ill," Soren interrupted. "The Elders have refused to extract him. Our hope is to barter his removal to a med centre if you were to agree to communicate with them only through Bezu."

Bal-Kar laughed as she laid out a Scaruband grid. His eyes returning to her hands, watching them careful as if she needed to cheat. Talos hoped she would grind him into the floor with her brilliance.

"You are ahead of yourself," Bal-Kar answered scooping up his hand. "My presence here is not agreement from our leader to help you."

"Your leader?" Talos asked carefully. He was aware in that moment of the spiralling tendrils each of them represented. They were not just themselves but a single capillary from the splayed vein of a body. What promises could they make one another?

"The Star," Bal-Kar answered.

"The Star?" Talos repeated.

"Their vision is what guides us."

"And what vision is that?" Talos asked as Bal-Kar reached for the bottle and cleaned the neck before cracking the seal. The smell wafted through the cabin like engine oil and fire. Bal-Kar made a face before swallowing back a healthy mouthful. Talos' stomach turned for him.

"Where the Skrulls are forgotten and the Kree are the benefactors of a universe that has no need and no war. Where everything is balanced." 

Talos grabbed the bottle from the table and swigged back a burning mouthful. He looked to Soren as he put the bottle loudly back on the table, "and these are your allies."

Soren rolled her eyes playing a tile over a small stack. Scaruband was a well known game it relied on number and pattern matching. It required the player to strategize not only across the grid but vertically through the stack. The tile would flash red if it broke the chain and it would need to be removed. Soren's tile flashed green.

"High and mighty talk, General," she said in a low purring voice that made him want to crawl across the floor to her on his hands and knees, "from a man whose masters burn my people's hospitals."

Bal-Kar laughed, "trouble in paradise?" 

The tile he played flashed and he won the stack. He collected his tiles and looked to Soren. She set her shoulders.

"Do the Elders of Skrullos know what you two are trying to achieve?" He asked. It was a good first question. Soren could drink to pass the answer but that would also stop negotiations. Soren's eyes moved to him. Talos put his hands in his pockets as he felt her reach and brush against him. She was asking silently across their bridge what he wanted. He could not wield this connection between them with any nuance. He looked decidedly at his feet, feeling the unwinding of his cells at the hands of the Ravager Swill and thought of how deeply and completely he trusted her. Even when she made him nervous. Even when he felt she was being reckless.

Soren looked down at her tiles and smiled. Talos was anxious. She could feel it when he opened to her. She also felt his trust. His resignment that in dealing directly instead of merely gathering information for the Elders she was the one with experience. She felt bolstered by his pliancy. His surrender to her way even as he struggled against her ways.

"The General's continued position in the Ulohmu was dependent on providing valuable information. The Elders have been informed that the Ulohmu has contacts within the Kree Separtists and that Rhondarian resistance fighters will continue their attacks if the Nova Empire is unsuccessful in removing the Kree Colonizers. The General has promised to share these contacts."

"And what is the General's position?" Bal-Kar asked.

"You only get one question, Commander," Soren smiled placidly at him. She could feel a small tick of surprise and frustration beneath his cool exterior but the Kree nature made empathy almost impossible.

"That answer was too opaque," Bal-Kar answered her with a tug of his mustache. "I think you should drink for it."

Soren laughed as Talos braced behind her. She reached for the bottle as she played a tile. She took a drink of the noxious swill as the tile flashed and she won the stack. She felt numbness tingle on the tip of her tongue as her stomach rolled. Heat flooded her body and she was immediately cautious that the Swill would loosen her tongue and dull her senses. It would be as dangerous to opt to drink to evade an answer as it would be to deny a drink when prompted. It was a delicate balance between Bal-Kar and herself.

"It is my question now," she said with an arch of her brow. They could hear the footsteps of Eros returning with Bezu. One stride was long while the other was shuffling. "Will you share the intell you have from the Sordona attack?"

Eros and Bezu entered the galley as Bal-Kar froze. He reached for the bottle and maintained eye contact with Soren as he drank. Bezu looked about stupefied as Eros spoke to him softly.

"Play my hand," Soren said standing and passing her tiles to Talos. He took them fumbling as Soren went to Bezu. He blinked his wet orange eyes at her as Eros settled him on a bench.

"Talos grumbled as he took a seat across from the Kree. He organized the tiles awkwardly in his hand as he felt Bal-Kar's eyes on him.

"The Kree have a word for a woman like that," Bal-Kar said his eyes on his tiles. He was prodding seeing if Talos would bristle. "Tasraltdol. Unstoppable Wave."

Talos couldn't help the way he eyes slid to Soren as she brought Bezu water and a ration pack. Bal-Kar played a tile with a satisfied click as if to call Talos' eyes back to the game.

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised he doesn't look like one of your kind," he continued as Talos surveyed the board. Scaruband was not just a game of numbers. You had to read your opponent. Talos knew that was what Bal-Kar was doing now. He toyed with the idea of taking the Kree's form. It gave him satisfaction picturing his anger even though it would upset Soren. Talos played a tile it flashed green but he couldn't claim the stack.

Eros returned to the table as Soren fussed. He had found what looked like a Terian sagging in the backroom of the hangar. The heat had been oppressive and Eros had been concerned Soren had sent him too late. Bezu as Soren called him was indeed a damaged man. When Eros had broken the bindings he had fallen forward but immediately popped up swinging at Eros. He had dulled the man with wave after wave of serotonin until he had been placid and malleable. Now they were all gathered but Eros sensed that between them tensions still stretched thin.

Bal-Kar was winning, Talos had to admit his scaruband skills were rusty but the man had two stacks now to the Skrulls' one.

"This question is for you, General," the Kree toyed with him. "Have you defected for a woman?"

Talos grit his teeth and considered answering. He could feel Soren's eyes on him, darting back and forth even as she encouraged Bezu to swallow the metallic water from the galley tanks. He reached for the bottle and swallowed the oily booze. It burned and made his throat convulse.

He put the bottle back down as he played a tile, "my personal feelings do not sway my loyalties."

The stack blinked and went dark. He claimed it.

"Why have you come here when you have nothing to offer us?"

Bal-Kar's eyes considered the bottle but his hands stayed on his tiles.

"You have information I want. Or more specifically the Captain does."

"Personal information?" Talos pushed. Bal-Kar reached for the bottle.

"You push beyond your winnings," he said with a grin.

Soren returned to him, placing her hand on his shoulder.

"Are you freeing me?" He asked as Bal-Kar played a tile. Soren leaned over his shoulder. She plucked a tile from his hand and lay it on a stack. He could feel the warm weight of her reach. He fought the urge to turn his nose to the crook of her neck and inhale.

"Two against one hardly seems fair," Bal-Kar complained as Soren won the stack.

"You have always been out numbered," Talos shot back. "You chose the place and the game."

"What would sway your leader to help the Elders?" Soren asked.

Bal-Kar was silent for a moment. He looked to Bezu and to Eros. Both looked back intently.

"Nothing," he answered at last. "Your race. Your Council of Elders, they hold no sway. No power. You have no one's sympathy. You are not even worth exterminating as you seem hell bent on killing each other."

Soren felt Talos tamp down on his anger as she regarded Bal-Kar. Not all of the Kree Separatists had been like this but he was certainly not alone in his beliefs. Without thinking she placed her hand on Talos' neck, she could feel beneath her palm the tensing of his muscles. She smoothed her thumb over his jaw and he leaned into her. Bal-Kar watched them his eyes seemed greedy for the small gesture. While Talos' eyes were on the board Soren observed their opponent.

"You came because of Emerys," she said into the terse silence. Bal-Kar paused. He did not look at her, his intense focus on the placement of the tile told her all she needed to know. The stack flashed and went dark. Bal-Kar collected it.

"Why did you kill Woh-Lar?" He asked lowly his eyes not lifting.

"You know why," Soren answered him. He put down his tiles and stood grabbing the bottle. He pulled a deep swallow from the bottle. Soren came from behind Talos, her empathy reaching. Bal-Kar turned from her, taking three long strides across the galley taking another long swallow. The bottle was beginnig to make a sloshing sound as they put a dent into its contents. Bal-Kar closed the distance again in hurried steps and the others tensed as if he would pounce.

"Woh-Lar -"

"Earned his death," Soren said with a tilt of her chin. She took the bottle from him and drew a hard swallow, wiping her mouth after. Bal-Kar rocked back on his heel. His hand briefly covered his mouth as if he would vomit.

"I should have killed him," he said gruffly. "It should have been me. On Rhondar."

"I would have it no other way," Soren answered him.

"You," Bal-Kar sneered at her, Talos could see the effect of the swill on him. He was sagging. Soren took his revulsion like water through sand. She seemed to draw from him pain and sorrow and refract it back to him. "Took her face-"

"I took what was offered, with her blessing. With her love and compassion. And with the danger that came along. My gift in return was knowing he died looking into her eyes. That he bled out fearing her and his own frail flesh."

Eros reached between them taking Bal-Kar by the shoulders. The man sagged towards him.

"This is all a mess, Rooka," Bal-Kar burbled as his head hung forward. 

The tension ate at Soren as deeply as the swill. Bal-Kar in Eros' arms she started to wilt. Talos reached for her, pulling her against him. Bezu seemed to rouse as the room was rocked by anger and sorrow.

"I say, you are all useless," he laughed maniacally.

"Shut up, Bezu," Talos growled.

"Is she alive?" Bal-Kar said at last, he twisted away from Eros' grip and looked back at Soren. "Were the reports from Cairn wrong?"

"She is."

Bal-Kar fell to his knees. Eros looked helplessly at Soren as the man seemed to draw an endless gulping breath. Talos looked at him and understood. Unwelcome clarity descended on him as he looked at a man desperate for news of a woman. A man being torn between two sides. Loyal to both with different organs. His hold tightened on Soren.

"I can make you no promise," Bal-Kar said at last. "I cannot guarantee the Star will be willing to speak to your leaders, but if Emerys is alive. If you are the reason she is safe then I will plead your case."

"That is all we ask, my friend," Eros said as he lifted the swaying Bal-Kar. 

Soren reached into her coat and removed a small disc. She walked with equally uneven steps to Bal-Kar and pressed the comm into his hand.

"This only calls its mate. They will not be able to track you. If the Star agrees they will be able to call Bezu and only Bezu," she said softly leaning forward half against Bal-Kar. He nodded tucking it into his jacket. Talos tensed as if she had given away a lifeline. Her conviction immediately reached for him and he was reminded there was more between them than could be replicated with a comm signal.

"I will take him back to the others," Eros assured her pulling Bal-Kar upright again. He turned his attention to Talos. "I suggest you put the Captain to bed as well."

Talos caught Soren as she stepped back, the rush of emotions, the relief of Bal-Kar's help and the Ravager's Swill made up a potent cocktail that had her sinking against him.

"The compressor," she murmured as her head fell forward into the crook of his neck. He felt her draw breath against his skin.

"Know when you are beaten, Inamorata," he said softly scooping her up. He turned to Bezu who was watching them blinking interest. "Stay here, Bezu or I will kill you."

Bezu's laugh echoed in the galley as Talos followed Eros out of the door.


	40. Chapter 40

It had been easier to carry Soren when he had been in Hoban's body. She was almost as tall as him and no matter how light her thin wiry body was her legs were long. She grumbled against him as he walked them to the nearest crew quarters. He wouldn't make it as far as finding the Captain's room. She would argue with him anyway. That would be Indes' room he could hear her grumbling already.

The crew door slid open and he walked them in the dark towards one of the bunks.

"Alright Captain," he said softly, "let's see if those legs have started working yet."

He tipped her upright letting her feet reach for the floor. She made complaining sounds into his shoulder as she sagged into him. He held her away from him and shook her a little until she lifted her head and she smiled at him. It was dreamy and soft. It made him want to kiss her. Instead, he grunted and held her firmly around the middle as he crouched in front of her.

"I can't feel my toes," she laughed as she leaned forward and he plucked at the laces of her boot.

"That's what happens when you drink anaesthetic," he teased her as he coaxed her foot out and onto the cold steel floor. She perched her fingers on his shoulders as he switched to her other boot.

"You're being nice to me," she said caressing his ear. He leaned into her gentle touch and felt the longing that grew low in his gut.

"I am always nice to you," he answered her. Her boots off he stood slowly and she leaned back to allow his height. She snorted a little as she laughed. It was unbearably cute as he relieved her of her jacket. She nodded as his hands pushed her jacket off her shoulders, his arms reaching around her to catch it.

"You are," she said solemnly. She wrapped her arms around his neck and held him tightly. He pulled at her arms, his one had still gripping her jacket.

"Inamorata, this isn't going to sleep," he chastised her gently. She shook her head, her eyes were glassy and she pouted at him.

"I don't want to sleep. Come to bed," she smiled at him and he wanted nothing more than to crawl into the bunk with her.

"I can't," he answered her in a low growl as he coaxed her to sit.

"Why not?" She breathed as she moved pliantly beneath his guiding hands.

"Someone released the prisoner on our ship," he reminded her.

"Bezu isn't really a prisoner," she said sleepily. She started to tip towards the pillow. "He needs help."

"Not from us," Talos answered her as he stroked her cheek and pulled up the covers. She reached for him, fiddling with a fastening on his lapel. The dark softened her and made the world feel small and close. He could believe the universe was an egg as the ancients said and they were the only two in it.

"You have forgotten what side you are on," she said with a small sad smile.

Talos grunted and took her hand pressing her fingertips to his lips. He could not tell her that he could not be on Bezu's side or the side that let him atrophy in the jungle. That seeing his father's old friend had shaken his loyalties more firmly, more quickly than all his love for her. It felt like an insult even though he thought she would understand.

She wouldn't let him leave, her hand slipped his and tangled into his shirt.

"Help him, Talos," she pleaded.

"I don't know how," he replied. He tried to soothe her hands away and convince her to sleep off the swill and the heightened tension of the day.

She rolled onto her back tugging him so he was forced to hover over her, one knee on the mattress.

"He needs to let go of Althar."

"It's not that easy," he argued. He knew when the fracture happened it was not solved by releasing the sim. The Other became a vine, eating and twisting into stone, if it was pulled away too late what was beneath crumbled without it.

"Show him the Skrull beneath. Shift with him. We have helped before. You only need to go slow," Soren moved her hand along the prow of his sternum. Illustrating the slow shifting of the Ulohmu. The memorizing and plucking of fingers. "It won't be enough but it will ease his distress. Do you want me to help?"

She started to curl upwards and he gripped her pushing her down again.

"No," he protested. He was sick imagining her pulling Bezu to the surface with intimate caresses. "I will see what will soothe him."

"It will be good for you too," Soren said reaching to caress his cheek. Her eyes drooped but she looked at him with such love. "He has upset you, Inamorato."

He turned his head and kissed her palm.

"I will be here when you wake," he assured her, tucking her in before he left.

* * *

The smell hit him first as the door to the galley slid open. Engine oil and heat. Iron and salt. Salt like the ocean, as if someone had pulled out a fuel line and the ship was hemorrhaging. Except it was Ravager Swill he smelled. Talos immediately stepped back and brought up his arm to block as Bezu appeared in the door with the broken bottle gripped in his bloodied hand. He plunged forward with a growling animal sound. He would have caught Talos in the chest if he had not had the split second of warning. Instead, Talos absorbed the force of his charge and felt his back slam against the wall with a groan. Talos' one arm pinned Bezu's arm against his side, his other hand came up to his throat and charged him backwards through the galley doors again.

Bezu's feet hit the swill first churning more fumes into the miasma that already weighed heavy in the air. Talos splashed in after him and held his breath. To think only a half hour before they had willingly drunk this slop. Bezu was struggling against him, his orange eyes bulging with the lavender veins in his skin. Talos' hand was squeezing his windpipe, his brain was already choked on fumes. Bezu's thighs hit the table where the bottle had been broken. He still wore the thin suit and Talos slamming his back to the tabletop meant the glass cut into him easily. The pain awoke more anger in Bezu and he managed to kick Talos away.

He released Bezu, backing up with his fists raised so he could block or strike as necessary. His knife hung heavily on his belt but he needed Bezu alive or he risked the Council descending on them.

"You should have killed me," Bezu spit as he tried to stay upright. The blood loss and fumes ate away quickly at his weakened state.

"On that count, we agree," Talos snarled.

"You are conspiring with the Kree, who wish us dead."

"You are helping him by attacking me," Talos fired back. Bezu seemed to stumble a little as the logic stuttered in his brain.

"You betray the Council. That Kree said you defected for the witch."

Talos bristled, he took shallow breaths that made him light headed, "she is the only reason you're free to attack me. She shows you more pity than I would."

"The Council-"

"The Council imbedded me with the Ulohmu. I am trying to provide them contacts within the Kree Empire."

"Brother," Bezu sagged against the table as he dropped the bottle. It smashed. The blood on Bezu's hand was drying. "I think I am lost."

Bezu slid faster than Talos could catch him. He crumpled and fainted. His face landing with a slosh into the Ravager's Swill and glass. Talos was tempted for a moment to let him drown. He walked over him and watched the small bubbles stop in the mirror dark puddle before he hauled him upright.

Bezu was heavier than Soren as he dragged him down the hall. He stunk of booze and sweat. Talos wanted to drop him as the slick liquor squelched under his palm. He grit his teeth and dragged him down the hall. He must be losing his mind that he was dragging the man who just tried to kill him to his woman's quarters.

The door opened and he could feel Soren immediately. He dropped Bezu on the edge of the bunk across from her. The man slumped and moaned. Talos shushed him, stripping away his stinking jacket. Soren behind him made a sound.

"Listen to me," he grit low through his teeth, "if you wake her I will slit your throat."

Bezu let out a small burbling laugh. Clearly he didn't believe Talos. Even Talos didn't really believe it. Bezu stopped laughing when he heard the click of Talos unsheathing his knife.

He made quick work of the jacket shredding it into strips. Bezu watched him through bleary drooping eyes. He did not resist as Talos bound his wrist to the frame of the bunk.

"Stay here," he growled as he went in search of the med kit. Bezu turned his head into the pillow and laughed. Talos would have blamed the swill but it seemed Bezu had been cracking since they had hit him with the stun baton. His veneer damaged he was no longer able to wrangle both the voices in his head.

When he returned Bezu was wheezing and drooling into the pillow his body twisted around his tethered wrist. He seemed barely conscious.

"Avlan," he slurred. "You've come to haunt me, haven't you?"

Talos felt a chill go up his spine as Bezu spoke to his dead father. He had said in the hangar they looked alike but in truth Talos could not remember. His father's face was blurred by memory and time. When Dania had stood in his mind he had almost asked her if beyond the door she had made she could conjure his parents. He didn't know if he could have faced them. To admit even to their memories that he was repeating their mistakes.

"There are no ghosts here," Talos growled as he put the medkit on the bed. He knelt in front of Bezu and crinkled his nose at the reek of Swill.

Talos worked in silence, pulling out the things he needed to dress the wound on his palm where the glass had cut him.

"Avlan," Bezu said softly as Talos turned his wrist and encouraged him to open his palm. Talos grit his teeth. If Bezu wanted to mock him he wouldn't get a rise out of Talos. If he was deep in a delusion talking would only lull him deeper into it. "You shouldn't have saved me. You had a son."

Talos froze as he mopped the cut with antiseptic. He had accepted that his father lived more fully formed in the memories of others but he had never considered the events of his death lived in Bezu.

"Shut up," Talos hissed as he wrapped the wound. His spine was alive with pins and needles. Bezu's lolling tongue had become a viper. Bezu breathed out shaking. His eyes opened and he looked at the bottom of the top bunk. They had a glassy far away look.

"They scattered us all after the attack. I couldn't look after him, none of us could. We all would have, Avlan, if they had let us. Sharan would have never been in need," his voice was soft. It had evened with his breathing to be smooth again. Talos thought whatever he could see that Talos could not, had left Bezu bartering with the past. His mother's name ate an acid hole in his stomach.

Talos turned away from Bezu and blinked until the darkness grew clear again. Soren was lying on her side, as he had left her. Talos breathed slowly and dreamt he could smell her above the engine oil smell. Rain on the ground, life from the earth. Beautiful and new.

"Sharan died fourteen years ago," he said quietly. Bezu didn't move but he thought he heard him.

"A good woman. A better spy than all of us combined," he answered him. Talos thought he might bite his tongue raw.

"Not good enough," he rumbled lowly. He closed the medkit. Any other wounds could wait for morning. He wanted to hide with Soren and drown out the past with loud insistent hope for the future. He moved away from the bed.

"And how long have I been dead?" Bezu asked. His voice was high and light, barely audible in the dark bunk.

"You're not," Talos looked down at him. He felt a mix of disgust and pity. How dare Bezu live when others had died? As if he could read his thoughts Bezu laughed. A soft exhaling of breath.

"Then the old gods have a sick sense of humour," he said. His eyes turned to the shadow of Talos who looked down at him. He turned his eyes upward again. "Although I think you are mistaken, old friend. I am dead but our brothers have forgotten to collect me."

Soren had been swimming to the surface slowly for a long time. Above her, the flickers of Talos' distress and hurt were encouraging her to wake up. When at last her eyes opened she was still surrounded by the dark. Beneath her cheek was a pillow. She could feel the thin waxy blanket of a bunk against her. She blinked her eyes until a standing figure came into focus. Talos was looking down at the other bed. Bezu was there. Conflict rolled off in dark green waves of smoke from Talos, Soren held her breath scared to reach out in case she stopped him. He needed to heal but she could not do it for him. Bezu and him needed each other.

She watched him slowly lower himself to bed so he sat bent over the troubled man. Her heart hurt from beating. She was an interloper in an intimate moment but she longed to bind herself around him and bolster his change.

"Maybe because they could not recognize you," Talos answered him. He leaned close to look into the man's face. Bezu shook his head.

"I must look this way. I am Althar's last life."

Talos bit his cheek and measured his words.

"Would you like to see Bezu's face?" Talos asked. He thought that might appeal to both sides. Bezu froze, blinking Althar's damp eyes up at him.

"Althar needs me," he insisted.

"Althar would want to see his friend."

Bezu considered his words and then nodded hesitantly. Talos felt his breath catch. He had expected denial, he had thought offering would clear his promise to Soren. He swallowed. He reached for Bezu, he felt the other man shirk away from his touch. Talos exhaled slowly and tried to tell his hand not to shake.

Soren watched as Talos reached across the bed and placed the flat of his hand on Bezu's chest. She could feel herself rocked by their mutual uncertainty. Talos was stiff, his body language unsure. She willed him to open, to see all the ways he and Bezu were the same. She felt the shiver in the air of his cells moving and flexing. She rolled onto her back as she felt her cells answer his ancient power. All his focus was on Bezu but Soren was caught in the flow and shift of it. Her body had answering shaking as her lover's cells pulled in another. She had never felt the echo of their power so intensely. When others changed it was natural to be aware of it. A tingle at the base of the spine. This was different. She thought she understood why as she felt drift across the bridge Talos' reaching uncertainty. His desire for reassurance. She let the floodgates open to him as she pressed her head back into the pillow and felt her lips curl with the desire to make a snarling animal groan. This was right, this was how it was meant to be. This was the compassion and empathy their cells were heir to.

Talos felt the rush through him like an ancient wind. His cells reforming and shaping to something near his cellular biology, but different and unique. He longed for Soren's guidance in that moment and like an echo he felt an answer to his desire. Bezu watched him hungrily. When his cells settled Talos was aware of a swallowing loneliness. Of a loathing so deep it made him want rip at his own face. Bezu's face. He removed his hand and looked at the man straining on the bed. Bezu's eyes narrowed for a moment before he snarled and lunged forward. His free hand went to Talos' belt where the knife hung as his restrained hand jerked his shoulder cruelly.

Talos could barely swim above the loathing before Bezu reached him. He straightened quickly and struck. His fist landed in Althar's jaw. Thin and unfamilar. Bezu collapsed back and Talos shook off his face, snarling. He picked up a scrap of swill soaked jacket and lunged forward covering the bastard's mouth and nose. Bezu struggled for a moment before collapsing back again asleep.

He secured Bezu more thoroughly and unclipped his knife from his belt. Talos shrugged off his jacket and dropped it next to Soren's. He slid into bed behind her and felt her laughing softly as he tucked the knife beneath her pillow. He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close to him.

"I am glad you find this funny," he whispered to her. He felt his anger leech away and be replaced by affection.

"We will practice," she assured him, rubbing her hand over his arm. "You are both rusty."


	41. Chapter 41

Soren woke with the feeling of being crushed beneath a massive weight. It seemed to encompass her entire head, driving her into the spongey thin mattress of the bunk. She thought it must be what having a spike driven through the centre of her forehead would be like. Her body was weighed down by Talos. He had rolled to his stomach. She was caught on her back beneath the mass of his shoulder. Their bodies meeting in a hot fog of skin and sweat. His head turned into the crook of her neck and his breath collected against her skin. His hand had slipped beneath her shirt sometime in the night and was splayed across her ribs. It was both the most wonderful, soothing feeling in the universe and completely unbearable.

She began to move out from under him feeling the soupy fog roll from sinus to sinus. Her only hope was standing would make it drain to her feet. Talos grumbled and his hold tightened around her.

"This postion is compromising," she said to him. She felt his smile and the movement of his hand over the rise and dip of her abdomen.

"How so?" His voice rumbled against her.

"Tactically speaking, it would be very easy to kill you. And then me," she continued to wriggle out from under him. He let her, rolling onto his back and pressing the heels of his hands into his eye sockets.

"And who got so drunk she was vulnerable last night?" He teased her as she sat up slowly.

"I got strategically drunk," she countered.

"I must say, this has been the most unusual morning," a hesitant voice came from the bunk beside them. Its occupant tested the strength of his bonds, looking around him with blinking eyes. His strange orange colour was bloodshot like the burst skin of a moragu fruit.

Talos pushed up on his elbows looking over at the Skrull tied to the bed. "Don't pull that amnesia bollocks. You still have to clean the galley."

"What happened in the galley?" Soren asked reaching for her boots.

"The bastard smashed the bottle of swill and tried to stab me," Talos growled collapsing back into the bed.

Soren laughed, reaching behind to rub a soothing hand over Talos' sternum. "That explains the smell."

"Terribly sorry about that. Violence is never the answer," he said lifting his wrists so he could see the bindings. "Is this my jacket?"

Talos only grunted. He wished they could stay in bed, alone. If for no other reason than his mind was buried in static from the day before. He felt he could sleep for a hundred years. Soren was standing and stretching so he forced his body to sit up.

Soren reached beneath the pillow and withdrew the knife.

"Soren, for the sake of Skrullos, keep him tied up," Talos pleaded as she approached the bed. The prisoner squirmed his eyes distrustingly on the knife.

"What name are you today?" Soren asked as she began to saw through the greasy strips that held him to the bed.

"It varies from minute to minute," he answered her his head tilted back as he watched her free his hands.

"It has been an upsetting time, General," Soren agreed somberly. "You have an opportunity to serve Skrullos."

Bezu struggled upright, his shoulders and arms numb from being strapped above his head. He rubbed his wrists.

"I am already serving Skrullos," he answered her. His voice was glib and smooth, though the corner of his cheek twitched nervously.

"Not with a broken commlink," Talos grunted reaching for his boots.

"Will you fix it?" Bezu asked, his voice had a noncommital cadence as if he feared either answer.

"We will give you another one. The Kree Separatists will call you when they are ready to deal. By then we will be far away from here," Soren answered him. Bezu observed her from the corner of his eye.

"So, you are Ulohmu?"

"Yes," she answered him simply.

"And what do you know of him?" Bezu asked nodding to Talos. He tensed but Soren only smiled. She crinkled her nose at him.

"He is my mate," she answered. Bezu's eyes stayed on Talos as they measured each other carefully. Talos was flooded with gratitude that Soren's soft spot was not clouding her judgment on what information Bezu could be trusted with.

"All I am to do is wait?"

"We know you are good at that," Talos growled as he took his knife back from Soren. He pulled her close to him outside of Bezu's reach.

"And why are you helping me?" Bezu continued to push. "Knowing who I am, given your allegiance?"

"There have been attacks and my people have shouldered the blame," Soren held Bezu's gaze. "I ask the Council take into account the Ulohmu's generosity when they encourage Nova Empire to investigate."

"You have made yourself the enemy of your brethern but you would call yourselves generous?" The tick in Bezu's face grew stronger as he looked at her. It was like watching a crack in glass catch the light. His anger invisible until it flashed. Talos tried to move her farther from Bezu but her hand only snaked beneath Talos' jacket pulling the comm disc from inside his pocket.

She held it up to Bezu and clicked the centre button uselessly. It made a hollow sound. He watched her fingers carefully.

"This only answers," she explained, tossing the lightweight disc to Bezu. He caught it as if it might explode. "I will tell our friends not to call. We won't tell the Elders you have the link. You can rot here and they will have lost an ally. Think on my generosity."

She gathered up the tatters of his jacket and left the quarters. Bezu inspected the device more closely. It clicked emptily as he triggered the button over and over.

"Tasraltdol," Bezu muttered almost to himself.

"Tasraltdol," Talos agreed his gaze tearing from Soren's departing back to look down at Bezu fiddling with the device.

* * *

Soren dropped Bezu's carved up jacket in the puddle of swill. The smell that rose made her want to vomit. She worked the cloth into the spill with her boot, her nose tucked beneath the collar of her shirt as she tried not to breathe. She let her boot stomp her anger at Bezu's words into the galley floor. She didn't know why the Elders and their lackeys anger towards her family had begun to sting differently. She had watched them rain fire from the sky, had run from their attacks but it was the words of one operative that made her wish to strike back directly.

Perhaps she had always harboured the hope that face to face with the Elders she could have made them see reason. Turn them as Talos had begun to turn.

"This is Bezu's mess," Talos told her from the doorway as she stomped the oily foul-smelling linen.

"It's on my ship," she growled picking it up and holding it far away from her before shoving it down the containment chute. It could be jettisoned into space with the other caustic wastes accumulated on their journey.

"This isn't your ship," Talos said softly. He was reaching out to her, she could feel it tickling at her senses. "It is the Ulohmu's ship."

"I am the Ulohmu," she answered, forcing the words through her clenching jaw. She leaned against the hatch, pressing her fingers into her throbbing temples willing the nausea to settle lower and the smell of the swill to leave her nose. To think they had managed to find something worse smelling than the sulfur swamps. Talos came nearer to her. She tensed and he paused.

"You are, but our ship is in the yard," he let himself drift closer and she began to soften. "It is the one that sleeps two. Maybe four. Remember?"

She nodded leaning into him. Resting her head on his shoulder. He rocked her slightly his hand soothing the back of her neck.

"I am slow to change," she said into his shoulder.

"What is it you wish was different?" He rested his chin and tried to impress on her with his feeling all the ways she was perfect to him.

"I keep being disappointed when they don't see our way," she pushed away from him and he let her. "That we are their enemy."

"Isn't the Council yours?" Talos asked with a raise of his eyebrows as he watched her move around the galley. Cleaning. Keeping her hands busy.

"They are," she agreed.

"Then why worry how they feel?"

"Because it doesn't make sense," she countered.

"You ask a lot of Bezu."

"Now who has gone soft?" She teased.

"Some starry-eyed rebel told me to help him," he smiled at her and she smiled back. He could feel a tremor between them, an easing of her anger.

"And what did you learn?" She asked.

"That the one who hates Bezu the most is Bezu," he moved to the table, perching against it. Willing her to look at him. He needed to know what she wanted next, what the next step was.

Soren looked sadly over his shoulder, her thoughts with the man they had left crouching inside his dead partner.

"We are often the architects of our own divine punishments," she agreed.

"And what is your punishment?" Talos asked her, watching the way she couldn't rest. Her movements precise but constant. She bit her lip as she bent to collect the shards of glass. He moved to stop her, but she ignored him.

"I am never satisfied," she answered after a pause moving the glass to the compactor. Talos' mouth quirked.

"Is that a challenge?" He growled at her. She crinkled her nose at him.

"And what is yours, General? To never allow anyone close to you?" She ignored his grinning.

"You have gotten plenty close," he said lowly. He caught her arm and pulled her between the bracket of his thighs. He was in a constant state of wondering when she would let him have her again.

"Have I?" She asked looping her arms around his neck. He liked the gleam in her eye.

"You could get closer," he murmured his hands slipping around her waist and traveling up her spine. There was a cough in the doorway and Soren stepped away. Talos was growling before he even twisted to see who waited for him.

"I will help," Bezu said from the doorway.

"Who decided that?" Talos asked, his back teeth clenching. "You or Althar?"

"You think you can separate us?" Bezu asked leaning his shoulder against the jamb. His arms crossed defiantly.

"I think you have the habit of trading places and changing your mind," Talos countered coming around the table. Soren caught the back of his jacket between her thumb and forefinger before he could step closer to Bezu.

"Althar stood by me, he gave me his likeness when I needed it. He sheltered me and aided the Council. His loyalty until the end was more unwavering than my own."

"Why?" Soren interrupted Talos before he could lob his retort. Bezu seemed taken aback by the question.

"The Kree are no friend to the Terians," Bezu answered. Soren held her tongue even as she longed to retort that the Elders had attacked Terius trying to burn out the Ulohmu camp. That would have been long after Althar's death. It was meaningless to fling it in his face.

"Then why Trillium? Why did the Elders station you here?"

"We are everywhere," Bezu answered with the tilt of his chin. "Only the Council could answer you why."

"Pins on a map only they fully understand," Talos said to her. His eyes held Bezu's and his words dripped with frustration.

"I don't need to understand," Bezu answered him. "It is not my place to understand."

"Such words of loyalty but you broke their commlink."

Bezu straightened, "for Althar," he answered bitterly. "I was trying to force their hand. To show them they would lose us."

"What changed ten years ago that the Council no longer cared about Trillium?" Talos turned his head and muttered between his teeth to Soren.

"I don't know," she answered leaning close to him. Bezu was watching them.

"We can't stay here any longer, we should leave now," Talos gave her a significant look, his eyes sliding to Bezu. She knodded.

"You are just going leave?" Bezu asked as Talos walked from the galley. He gripped the man's shoulder and frog marched him down the hall.

"Yes, you need to get off this ship," Talos growled.

"You haven't given me credits for her," Bezu bumbled in a sweating creaking voice. He was sweating as Althar did.

"Consider it seized by the People's Army of Skrullos," Talos answered him, shoving his shoulder down the gangplank.

* * *

They were returning to the Ulohmu. Talos had felt Soren's nerves. They wafted over to him as he left her in cockpit of the Ulohmu's new ship. They would fly separately. He wasn't sure if it was seeing her family one last time, knowing their parting would be long that worried her, or if she thought he would take the small ship and disappear.

He couldn't comfort her on either point. There had been a time when he would have taken the opportunity and left. To say that time had passed him by so thoroughly that thinking of the option made him dizzy with dread was its own weakness. One that was better left unspoken.

He could see the tents peaking through the trees as he banked the ship. Soren was already landed below. The Skrulls were emerging and gathering in curiosity as the new ship glinted in the sun. As he engaged the landing gear he watched them circle around it, their hands extended either reaching for Soren or caressing the ship. He could feel her joy through the shield. He knew her smile would be wide as she greeted them. He felt fleetingly like a thief that their mission would take them away.

Her relief was a warm breeze as he exited the craft. Faces turned to see him arrive. He drew closer to the crowd when he heard a cry. There was a flash of green before something hard and heavy hit his gut. He curled around the weight as thin arms wrapped around his middle.

"Beast," Thalla moaned into his shirt. "You left without saying goodbye."

Talos grabbed her thin shoulders and pushed her back so he could look down into her face. She had tears on her cheeks and her small mouth was pouting.

"I had to go get Soren," he said gruffly. He felt guilty even though he hadn't been given the choice. He pulled her back again into a hug. He felt her turn her cheek and wipe her eyes on his shirt.

"So, you've come back?" A voice broke through the crowd. Thalla released her hold on Talos. The skrulls parted and Indes walked through the crowd. Indes craned her neck to look up at the new vessel. "With a ship?"

Soren knelt, the Skrulls who had surrounded her backed up as she bowed her head into the soil.

"_The Ibu-Ibu_ could not be raised," she said into the dirt before she lifted her head. "I have brought us a new ship."

"For goodness sake, girl, get out of the muck," Indes sighed. Soren bit back a smile as she got to her feet, brushing the clinging grit from her knees. "What have you called it?"

Soren looked over her shoulder, her eyes tracing the deep blue curve of the ship as if it was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. "_The Lazuli_"

"A good name," Indes nodded. "I notice it is not the only one you brought."

"No," Soren hesitated, her eyes moved to Talos and he stepped closer to her. "I am leaving."

A murmur moved through the gathered Skrulls. Soren kept her eyes locked on Indes, willing her to understand.

"Just for a little while," she continued. "There is something I must do."

"And who is going with you?"

"Talos," Soren answered. "He has agreed to aid us."

Indes turned her attention to Talos, he felt the weight of her gaze as heavily as an iron bar across his back.

"Have you decided to defect?"

Talos bowed his head to Indes. An instinct he could not explain beyond the desire to give in to something greater than himself.

"I see joining the Captain on her journey as a continuation to my service."

"You will always have a home here, General, should you change your mind." Indes turned to look at the crowd. Their confusion boiled up and over the sides carrying flecks of fear like seeds in a hot pot. She announced in a loud voice, "we are leaving Trillium. Tonight will be our last night. Let us move forward with joy to where we are needed next."

The Skrulls' murmuring grew louder and as they returned to the camp. If they were going to leave quickly there was too much to do in too little time. Indes pulled Soren into a hug now eyes were no longer on them.

"I knew you would return one last time," she assured her daughter, rocking her and soothing her hands over her back and head. Indes looked over at Talos. "I hear from Eros you are mated."

Soren let go, stuttering. Thalla gasped looking up at Talos and knocking her fists against him.

"We are," Talos said slowly. Indes was regarding him through shrewd glittering eyes. He thought this must be what staring down a cobra was like.

"There are old ways that can't be ignored. It is a commitment made with more than just the words spoken vetween the couple. By running away, I hope you do not intend to do things poorly."

Talos straightened his shoulders, swallowing a snarl as he rolled his muscles. "Never."

Soren was staring at him intensely. He shuttered himself as he felt her dozens of questions press against him. They could talk together later away from other eyes.

Indes took Soren's face in her hands, moving her thumbs lovingly over her ears.

"Come with me, we will sit with the Mothers," Indes reached out her hand and grasped Thalla's shoulder. "You too, girl."

Thalla squealed throwing her arms around Soren's neck before they were dragged away. Talos was left standing on the outside again, but it felt different. As he surveyed them, it was not as if he was on the outskirts of joy but had merely climbed higher for a better vantage. It reverberated around him and through him as if their eager murmuring and packing roped him and drew him in. Soren looked back at him one last time before she walked into open maw of the pot bellied _Fedjaeger_.

Talos looked down at where Thalla had wiped her eyes. They would need clothes for the journey, and supplies. He could begin to arrange that while Soren spoke with the Mothers.

* * *

Talos had gathered enough supplies to last them until they made it to the next space port. His commlink was burning a hole in his pack. Once the Ulohmu were off planet they would turn it on and inform the Council of their next steps. He could only hope they wouldn't force his hand. That they would trust him one last time.

He had meant it when he told Soren he would kill anyone who tried to hurt her or to force her to serve the Council. If they came for them he would defect through blood.

He was in _the Lazuli's_ privy, beneath the hot spray of water. Finally washing off the last day, what from his clothes and pack that could be cleaned had been taken to the stream and soaked. He heard the door woosh open and slow careful steps.

"Talos?" A voice called to him, curious and unsure. He saw through the rippled divide a slim silhouette moving.

"I am a little indisposed at the moment," he called over the falling water. The voice sounded like Soren. She leaned against the counter and he could feel her gaze on him.

"We should talk."

"I will find you when I am done," something was wrong. He could tell.

"I could join you," she offered, a soft purr to her voice. Talos froze. Soren wouldn't have offered, she would have joined him uninvited. He turned off the water, his ears pricked. The figure was waiting patiently.

"I warmed it up for you," he said hesitantly. He opened the door of the divider a sliver. Enough to reach through and grab his clothes. The woman cocked her head.

"That's less fun," she said as he dried off quickly before forcing his thick trousers up his humid skin.

"I don't fancy risking interruption," he answered her. He needed to keep her talking so he could decide what to do next. His shirt clung in places where he was still damp. "What did the Mothers say?"

She paused. He could feel her watching him as he slid open the panel. She looked him up and down. He shrugged on his jacket.

"Neva says I am a fool for trusting you. And at the mercy of hormone-addled lust," there was a gleam in her eye and a laugh on her lips. He could almost believe it was her. He drew in breath slowly trying to catch her scent on the air. Nothing. She smiled at him her hip leaning against the counter as he slid on his boots. He noticed she kept one hand tucked carefully at her side, almost as if she were hiding something. She pushed away and took a step towards him as Talos straightened. He could feel every nerve firing. He itched to take action but he forced himself to be still. Soren swayed her hips as she neared him. "She isn't wrong. You did seduce me."

"You seduced me," Talos countered, watching her eyes. They widened slightly in shock before she laughed.

"Did I?" She was close enough to reach out to him. She smiled alluringly. "Shall I do it again?"

As she reached for him, Talos sprung. He caught her wrist and forced her back until she hit the counter. Her palm was clay red and glistening.

"Where is Soren? What is going on?" He demanded. She laughed.

"You won't find her, General. We have hidden her well."

He released her hand and retreated from the bathroom. The door closed behind him and the Soren did not follow.

Talos took off down the hall towards the life systems. Maybe Soren was fixing the compressor and this had all been a strange prank by one of the Skrulls.

The panel was open as he approached it. He ducked in and saw her sitting on the floor, the compressor in her lap.

"Soren," he said relieved. Until she turned and looked at him. His stomach dropped. Soren looked concerned as she struggled to her feet.

"Talos, what is wrong?"

Talos growled as she came closer. He took a sliding step backwards towards the opening in the wall again.

"Something is going on," he said clearly. His words measured with an edge of a threat. She paused her face nervous as she curled her hand against her chest for a moment. He watched her collect herself. She walked closer to him and he braced one hand against the sill.

"What could possibly be going on?" She asked incredulously, edging closer.

As Talos stepped quickly back through the panel, she made a grab for him her hand with her palm stained deep indigo connected only with air. Talos took off at a run down the hallway towards the gang plank. He had to figure out what the hell was happening.

Soren emerged from one of the quarters but he ran right passed her. He could hear over the echo of his footsteps on the ramp her calling his name.

He had to get to _the Fedjaeger_, that was where she had been last with the Mothers. His heart was in his throat. Were they trying to separate them?

_The Fedjaeger_ was strangely quiet as he tore up the gang plank.

"Soren," he called out duck his head in to empty room after empty room. She could be in her bunk, cleaning it out before they left. He reached the bottom of the ladder, gripping one hand on the wrung. He called out again, "Soren?"

She appeared, framed in the doorway her shoulder pressed to the jamb and the sole of her foot pressed to her other ankle.

"What Talos?"

He snarled, "where are you hiding her?"

She smiled, uncrossing her arms. He could see purple on one hand. "Hiding who? Calm down."

"Tell me where Soren is," he demanded. She shook her head, crooking her lips.

"You will need to find her, General."

Talos cursed under his breath. He slammed his fist on the wall and took off back outside. He would scour the tents if he had to.

He emerged from _the Fedjaeger_ and turned to the rows of tents. He moved through them opening flaps. Most were empty or partially torn down, their contents strewn about in the flurry of packing. He felt as he moved through the camp the Skrulls beginning to crowd around him. The light of the day was starting to dim. It was late in the afternoon. He began to gnash his teeth, anger and frustration climbing his gullet as he failed to find her.

At last, he came around the final tent and entered the clearing with the fire. She stood looking into the flames, she worried her lip. She had changed. Gone were the tight leggings and leather jacket. She was in a long grey shift. The colour of smoke from a newly burning fire. It clung to her and the breeze caught it and the thin fabric fluttered.

"There you are," he called out. She looked up at him her brow drawn together. "What in the name of the old gods is going on?"

"Talos," she sounded so relieved. Her voice more breath than sound. She moved to him, he quickened his steps meeting her in the middle. She threw her arms around his neck and he pulled her close. She pressed her mouth close to his ear.

"You can say 'no', you don't have to," she said desperately in a whisper.

"What do you mean?" He asked leaning back so he could see her face.

"General Talos," Indes called as she crossed between the tents. He realized, looking up and around, that an audience had gathered. "You represent our enemy, you refuse to defect and you have deceived us from the first moment."

The crowd closed in and Talos tensed. He went still, only Soren pushing against him with her calm and conviction kept him from bristling.

"Step away from him, Soren," Indes commanded. Soren bowed her head and stepped back. Talos tried to hold her but his hand was left brushing her skirt. He looked from her to Indes. Dania was behind her, her dark eyes watching carefully. "Knowing this, my daughter has still chosen you above all others. Now is your chance, in front of all who raised her, to ask for her."

Talos balked. His insides twisted in panic as it all came together; the test, Soren's words, the permeating anticipation from all those gathered. They still encircled them, watching eagerly. Talos searched the crowd for familiar faces but could only see Reema, holding Ala, her arm in Giz's. The boy looked miserable. He looked back to Soren, her gaze had been lowered but her eyes lifted to meet his, her reassurance moved in lavender waves from her, ripples over the dirt that washed over his shoes. Talos swallowed his hesitation. What Indes had said was true, he remained loyal to the Council in a way. As immovable as that piece of him was he could not be without Soren. Without meaning to he had given over to her every thing he could not face about himself and she had taken it in hand. He could see her nerves and feel the shifting energy the longer he was silent. He turned to Indes again before could tie himself in further knots. He dropped to both his knees.

"Please," he spoke loud enough so Indes could hear him, a hush fell over the crowd. "Give me your daughter as my mate."

Indes regarded him carefully. She raised her hands and beckoned forward. Talos twisted so he could see over his shoulder four Sorens emerge from between the tents. Soren turned to look too. She smiled at them. Each held up their marked hand.

"As is old Skrullos tradition we sent to Talos four brides. If he could not recognize his lover beneath her surface beauty then he would be marked by his false love." Indes turned to her daughter, "Soren does he bear upon him the mark of unfaithfulness?"

Soren walked around Talos slowly as he slid his leather coat down his arms, exposing the clean linen of his shirt.

"He does not," Soren answered smiling. A small cheer rippled through the crowd.

"Do you accept the trueness of his devotion?" Indes asked her.

Soren looked down at Talos and considered him. He did not seem like a man eager to flee such public declarations. He held her gaze.

"I do," she answered. Talos stood as the crowd surged forward. The Sorens came one by one and embraced her. They gripped her shoulders and left coloured handprints on her skin. They released her likeness. Each time she touched her forehead lovingly to theirs.

"Tank found him in the shower," Thalla whispered eagerly to Soren as their heads  
pressed together, noses brushing. Her voice shook with glee. Soren looked at Talos her mouth dropping open, feigning being scandalized. Tank winked at him as Talos raised his hands in surrender.

The crowd parted again and Dek walked towards them. Soren reached out and took Talos' hand as they turned to face Dek. The ring closed again and they were surrounded on all sides by the Ulohmu.

Dek reached out and rested the tips of his fingers on each of their crowns. Talos held Soren's hand tighter as they bowed their heads.

"We are a people without a planet, without structures or edifice. We are a living history," Dek spoke loud enough to be heard to the back of the crowd. Though a softspoken man in the day to day his voice was lush and rounded. Talos felt Dek could say anything and he would be eager to agree.

"Within us lives the epic of Skrullos. We speak it to our children so they carry it inside them. We live in defiance of those who would crush us. We are a defiant people. We are the bringers of the light. We illuminate the injustice of those who misuse their power. We are the record. It is tradition that when we join together a new verse is formed. Your bond becomes part of our history."

Dek lowered his arms, lifting their joined hands and covering them with his own. Talos glanced at Soren from the corner of his eye. She was calm, her eyes on Dek. Talos was struck that he did not know what was to come, he had never been at a ceremony where two became bonded. He did not know the traditions of his own people when it came to their binding.

Dek licked his lips before he closed his eyes. He continued in a low full voice.

"The General from the mountain did meet the Captain of the skies. From enemy ranks spilled forth love that did not waver when alteration found. In taking hands they seek to find the balance between the jutting rock and the gusting wind. To strike with one hand and loose the chain with the other. To bridge between what can be seen and what can be felt."

The verse clung in the air. A beginning to a story that had yet to end. Dek's hands stayed warm around theirs as the Skrulls pressed closer. They repeated the verse over and over in low rumbling. It reminded Talos of prayers said in temples as all together they memorized the words. His lips moved of their own accord, saying the words with the others as Soren and he became part of the Ulohmu's poem.


	42. Chapter 42

The murmuring faded as Dek released their hands. The ring made by the Ulohmu pressed tighter. Tank pushed through and wrapped her arms around Soren's neck. The spell broken more hands reached for them. Like cells dividing, a wall formed as some circled Soren, holding her closely and congratulating her. Others shook Talos' hand, gripping his arms or touching his face.

Thalla forced her way through and gripped his jacket. Her hand still had indigo painted across it and he knew she would leave a faint print in the dark leather. He couldn't be mad, he did not know when he would see her again.

"Beast," she called above the rumble. "How come I didn't fool you? Was my shift not good?"

"Did you want to fool me?" He asked in her ear. Thalla leaned back to look at him and shook her head.

"No, I wanted Soren to be your mate," she answered him with a dreamy smile on her face.

"That's the problem, Stitcher. You won't win if you don't want the prize."

A green arm stuck through the crowd, reaching blindly.

"I think my bride wants me," Talos rumbled to Thalla as he stepped away and ducked his shoulder beneath Soren's questing hand. She gripped him and he reached for her. He grabbed her waist and hauled her backward through bodies. She emerged rumpled through the wall, laughing as she fell against him.

"I was beginning to think I would never see you again," she huffed into his shoulder. She turned her head and kissed him. Thalla covered her mouth and made a gleeful snorting sound.

With the couple reunited the crowd began to disperse. Tank came through the bodies once again.

"Soren, fix the radio. We need music," she begged grabbing the bride's hands in between her own, steepled in prayer.

Soren stumbled as she started to acquiesce. Talos looped his arm about her middle and pulled her tight.

"Get someone else to do it," he growled.

"Everyone else will take forever," Tank pleaded. Soren sagged against him. He let her go. It would bother her not to help. She kissed his cheek.

"I'll be back," she assured him.

"We can go see Reema," Thalla pulled his arm.

They parted as quickly as they were joined. Talos wondered if this was an omen of their future life. Always being separated too quickly.

Reema was serving food as Thalla dragged him towards her bench. The older woman smiled at him, a wicked glint in her eye.

"Did I not tell you, General?" She called as he approached. Caira was beside her with Ala on their lap. The young skrull was pouting.

"How come Thalla got to be a brideshift?" They sniffled looking up at Reema. Reema reached down as she served up hot flat breads into eager hands, absentmindedly patting their head.

"Because I can hold a shift for more than ten minutes," Thalla gloated. The little skrull stuck out their tongue.

"I wouldn't have found you at all if Caira could hold a shift," Talos reminded her. Caira perked up.

"See? You have already been very helpful," Reema assured them. She plucked Ala off their lap and passed them to Thalla. She placed two hot breads in a bowl and filled the centre with dark red stew. Every thing was heavy with spice, Talos could feel it sting his nose and his mouth watered. Reema passed the bowl to Caira. "Take this to Indes."

The young skrull clutched the bowl eagerly and went weaving through the crowd. Thalla's eyes were on the food and she worked her lips together as Reema served each Skrull that came. Talos rolled his eyes and scooped Ala from her arms.

"Eat," he grumbled as he sat on a bench next to Reema. Thalla clapped her hands and greedily filled a bowl.

"Take this to Neva," Reema foisted another bowl on Thalla as she groaned. "No complaining."

"It seems you and I always end up together," Talos said standing Ala on his lap, their chubby legs practicing holding their weight.

"Do you speak to me or Ala?" Reema teased as she loaded a final bowl with two breads and sauce. "Take this with you when you go to find Soren."

"Have you eaten yet?" Talos asked looking up from Ala's wide all-seeing eyes. He had never realized before, that children had an intense way of looking that seemed insistent on pulling in every detail.

"Not yet," Reema admitted. "I will eat once Giz comes to take his sibling."

"Sit," Talos grunted. "Soren is busy. Ala and I will wait."

Reema smiled gratefully and settled next to him. Her plump figure sagged a little and he could see her brow glistening with sweat.

"Thank you for the hard work you did for us," he said a little ashamed she was tired and hungry while he was full of joy.

Reema waved her hand, batting away his guilt. "It is my lot, celebration or not. I am grateful to you that we have had joy today. You did not have to come back."

Talos coughed as he felt a pricking at the back of his throat. Ala leaned heavily on his shoulder and latched onto his ear. He let them tug at him.

"I have not known how to offer some advice to you. Though I feel I should," Reema said hesitantly as she moved a flat bread through her sauce.

"Your husband died because of the Council," Talos forced the words from between his teeth. His eyes unfixed on the middle distance. "You do not owe me any kindness even when you have been generous already."

Reema smiled sadly looking at her hands before glancing at Ala standing in his lap.

"I have cursed the Council already. I have felt horrible anger. For stealing slowly my children's father from them. For taking half my heart when I still had use for it. For forcing me to leave his body poorly marked on a planet that was no friend to us," she wiped away tears with the corner of her apron. Talos was forced to blink rapidly to clear his eyes. His mother had never spoken of his father once he died. Reema's words made him feel inadequate in his grief.

"I have come through that anger to realize something important. That if Drüz had run with us, if he had left the hospital to burn without trying to save our people and our equipment. To save the life we had built on Ghodar and the good deeds that gave us allies. Then he would be alive but he would not have been the man I loved. So yes, I owe the Council no kindness and no forgiveness but you, Talos, and the things you have done. You have earned my forgiveness."

"You humble me," Talos choked.

"Maybe I do have advice after all," Reema said standing and lifting Ala onto her hip. "Never decide you know someone because of who they are surrounded by. Skrulls are made to let life pass through us. We must choose carefully what we hold on to."

Talos nodded and stood awkwardly. He wished to embrace her but could not find the courage to close the distance between them. Reema grinned at him. They both looked to the Fedjaeger as music began to play across the camp.

"Now before you run off to find your bride I have one last gift to embarrass you with," she shifted Ala and reached into her pocket, pulling out an oblong silver box.

"What is this?" Talos asked as he took it from her. She looked a little embarrassed as Ala gripped her chin.

"An extraction kit. For your implants."

"I- now-" Talos felt himself flush as he stuttered over his words. Reema patted his arm.

"Not now. Not ever if you don't want, but you deserve the choice. I promise it is not as impossible as it seems."

Talos tucked the box inside his jacket. He felt the press of it like a guilty secret. He ducked his head awkwardly in thanks over and over as he collected their bowl. He needed to find Soren before he died of giddy embarassment. He could feel Reema's smile as he retreated.

* * *

Soren followed Tank up into the Fedjaeger, her friend kept glancing back as if to assure herself that Soren was following.

"I don't remember the radio being broken," Soren hinted as the walked.

"Are you calling me, a Guardian of the Ulohmu, a liar?" Tank asked aghast, as she ducked into the flight cabin.

"Anyone who knows you would be constantly suspicious of your motivations," Soren teased her as she approached the console. Maybe she had broken it when she augmented the radar. She smiled as she looked down at the Captain's chair. Remembering first feeling Hoban's desire for her.

"Don't smile like that. You make me lose hope," Tank chastized her as Soren reached for the controls.

"Hope for what?" Soren asked. She rocked forward as Tank's weight collided with her back. Her arms came around Soren's middle and she felt her cheek press between her bare shoulder blades.

"That you will runaway with me. It is not too late," Tank's voice was squished between her pouting lips as she braced herself tighter against Soren.

"I am mated now," Soren said softly patting Tank's hands.

"They could all forget us," Tank sighed. She let her go and flopped into the co-pilot's chair. Soren turned to lean against the console. She raised her brow at her friend.

"I think Talos might disagree with this plan," she traced the space between switches, chewing her cheek. "I thought you liked him. You were making fun of us on the Ibu-Ibu."

"That was before," Tank crinkled her nose and made a face. "When I thought he would make you stay with us. Now you are leaving."

"Talos is not why I am going. Disaster has been following us, in a way it never used to. Something has changed and if there is danger I have to stop it."

"You are not a Guardian-" Tank started to protest. Soren interrupted with a sad laugh, brushing a tear from her eye.

"And who Guards the Guardians?" She teased.

"Who will guard you?" Tank retorted.

"Talos."

"I am jealous," Tank admitted kicking her feet over the arm of the chair.

"Of what?" Soren rolled her eyes and pressed her lips together. Part of her knew Tank was teasing but a bigger part wanted to defend Talos.

"I didn't fool him for a second," Tank narrowed her eyes and pointed with her finger. "Do you know what that means?"

"That you aren't as good as you think you are," Soren taunted.

"No. My Soren impression is flawless," Tank shot her an accusing look. "It means he knows some side of you I don't. He knows a different Soren you have been hiding from me."

Soren laughed. It sputtered out of her half in surprise, half in relief. Tank wasn't suspicious of Talos. It was Soren that had upset her. It was true. Talos knew her in a way no one ever had. She could not hold any part of herself separate from him. Not even from the beginning, when it had been dangerous for anyone to know Emerys. Enzo had sensed her immediately. Hoban too, had peeled back layers she didn't know she had. Talos had been pursuing her deeper and deeper into herself until she could no longer lie about her failings or her hopes.

"Don't laugh," Tank launched herself at Soren and shook her shoulders. "He said you seduced him, is that true?"

"He what?" Soren's mind skipped and she laughed again. She remembered their time in the inn, pressing her lips together. "That isn't entirely untrue."

Tank groaned and lay her forehead on Soren's shoulders. She began to root through her jacket. "Fine if you must be happy, take this."

Tank pressed a red vial into hands, the contents cloudy and the glass was warm.

"What is it?"

"What kind of Nadiirian doesn't recognize this?" Tank teased her.

"The innocent kind that left when she was ten," Soren stuck out her tongue turning the vial in the light.

"It's an amplifier. Skrull tradition says the bride has to share her ecstasy," Tank lifted her brow suggestively and Soren blushed.

"What does that mean?" Soren wished a hole would open below her.

"It means when that smuggler ship starts a-rocking we all get a taste of those good time vibes."

"Tank," Soren closed her eyes and covered her face. "That is so embarrassing."

"You don't come from embarrassed stock, Little Soren," Tank winked as she started to walk away. "We will all know. You might as well be generous."

"Is there anything else you want to tell me before you abandon me to die of shame?" Soren called after her.

Tabk shrugged a mischevious grin on her face, "the radio works just fine."

* * *

Talos followed the music but found the cabin empty. The day was beginning to develop a theme; every sign of Soren but no Soren to be found.

"Soren," he called out.

"Up here," she called down from her old room. He walked to the base of the ladder and looked up. He was grateful Tank had stolen their dinner with a grin and a wink. He didn't fancy climbing up the ladder one handed.

Soren was standing amidst the chaos, a pack open on the bed and everything sorted into haphazard piles.

"You are a messy woman," Talos teased as he pulled himself up.

"I am a busy woman," Soren corrected, rifling through piles of clothes. She looked down at the floating silk of her shift. "I should change."

Talos growled as he stalked closer to her. "Not yet."

"I hope you don't think you have married a delicate woman," she teased.

"I know exactly who I married," he answered her catching her about the waist and burying his face in the crook of her neck. He inhaled deeply. "I have always known."

She elbowed him and broke away to start putting spare parts into the pack. She seemed to have a pattern. Some pulled apart gadget followed by a sock or shirt. All bundling up together.

"I had you fooled for a little bit."

"Not for as long as you think," Talos felt his guts twist. He should tell her now. Soren paused.

"What do you mean?"

"The Council has your picture," Talos admitted. The colour drained from her face. He turned away pushing the toe of his boot into an abandoned heap of things. "I would look at it on Cairn. I wanted to find you."

"Why?" Soren's voice was barely above a whisper. He turned to look back at her.

"I don't know. Fate? Love? Anger?"

"Do they know my name?"

"No," he assured her, coming closer. "They called you a 'tech analyst'."

She laughed covering her mouth. Talos smiled.

"If they knew the truth they would have feared you more," he teased her.

"Is that so?" She raised her brow at him. "Would they have sent more than just one lonely General?"

"A whole battalion," he said lowly, reaching for her again. "They would have all fallen in love with you just as I have. It would have been a mess."

"I guess in the grand scheme of things that is not much of a secret," Soren admitted wrapping her arms around his neck. He walked her backwards until her legs knocked into the low mattress. She sat back and he followed her. He knelt between her legs as her calves bracketed his thighs. The skirt of her dress slid up her legs easily. Talos felt his desire for her grow as she closed her eyes. He pulled her slippers off easily and threw them to the floor. She moved her feet, one by one to the tops of his thighs. Her knees touching but her hips tilted towards him.

"Your first order of business should be to wash those handprints off," he teased trailing his finger tips over the backs of her thighs. Soren opened her eyes to glance at her shoulders.

"Not a good look?" She asked quirking her brow.

"I want to be the only one who touches you," he growled.

Soren walked her feet up to the centre of his chest, bracing against his sternum so he couldn't lean in closer.

"You and Tank are jealous of each other. You should wrestle it out."

"Would you wager on me?" He grinned at her pushing her skirt up higher. She shook her head.

"Never, Tank cheats."

He took her ankles and straightened her legs so they rested on one of his shoulders. He leaned forward so she was tilted up to him. One hand held her legs fast to his chest while he traced dizzying patterns over the stretched and sensitive skin of her thighs.

"Now I know where you learned it," his mouth quirked up at her. She rolled her head back into the mattress. He could see the clenching of her jaw and feel the tensing of her muscles underneath his hands. Even without the connection between them he could read her like a book. With it he could feel everything like sifting through sand. Her heavy heart at leaving her family, her relief he had offered for her, and her anxiousness for them all to flee. These feelings existed beneath the coiling, knotting desire that was tangling her up. As he ran his hands closer to her centre the warm calling of her body grew more insistent.

"You are the one not playing fair," she panted.

"What would be fair, Inamorata? I will do anything you ask," he was toying with her. He wanted to hear all the things she desired to come pouring out from her lips. He wanted to hear her say filthy words and make desperate sounds. Now she was his without question he wanted to learn her more thoroughly than she thought possible. He wanted to shock and overwhelm her with his attentiveness.

He pushed a little further against her legs so she could feel the weight of him. She groaned and covered her eyes. She blushed so prettily.

"They will wonder where we went," she breathed.

"They know where we have gone," he teased her. She laughed into her palm looking up at him with such warmth and love. Before throwing her arms above her head and sighing.

"I should finish packing, if you are going to be all talk-" she was cut off by Talos releasing her legs and lunging forward. She made a surprised noise he quickly swallowed. He pinned her half beneath his body, his elbows framing her face. He kissed her long and slow. Her hands gripped into the linen of his shirt and held him fast to her. He grunted as she wrapped one leg around his hip, grinding them together.

He lifted his head so he could watch her face as he rocked the weight of his body into her. Her mouth glistening, lips parted and eyes heavy. She instinctively shifted with the friction of his hips and thigh, chasing the building sensation.

"Should I leave you to pack?" He whispered against her skin. He could make her come apart this way, her skirts crumpling as the heat grew between them, a prelude for how he intended to spend his night.

"A moment longer and I will have no more need of you," her hands moved to his shoulders; gripping him harder, using the leverage to increase the pressure against her. He lifted his body away from her, leaving her bereft. She groaned and tried to pull him back but he tensed so hard she could not force him down again. She turned to her side in moaning protest but he rolled her to her stomach.

He trapped her beneath him, one knee between her legs planted firmly against her backside. He felt her grunt into the mattress as she pressed against his leg. His hand snaked beneath her hips and followed the curve of her.

"I have you now, Little Soren," he murmured into her shoulder as he kissed her over and over. Her neck, her shoulder, the lobe of her ear. He felt her shudder and push forward as his hand felt the shadow of her through her skirts. "Shall I take you like this?"

She whimpered into the sheets she gathered in her fists. Across her shoulders were the blue and red handprints of her brideshifts. He trailed his nose up her spine. She shivered.

"I won't do anything until you ask me," he told her. No matter how desperate and heavy he felt. He wanted her to ask. He wanted her permission.

She opened her mouth drawing in panting breaths, ready to answer him when there was a sound below. They froze.

"What was that?" She said softly.

"Just someone in the flight cabin. Pay them no mind."

"Talos," she admonished him as he kissed along her shoulder again.

He groaned, "no one will know. We can be quiet."

"We are surrounded by empaths," she retorted, kicking awkwardly back with her heels until he rolled off her. She stood shaking out her skirts. She walked to the edge of the ladder and peered down. "I think it's Giz."

Talos made an unhappy sound, "of course it is."

"Go talk to him," she said softly returning to the bed. She sat and he curled around her so his head was in her lap. He huffed warm air into her skirt and grumbled.

"What for?"

"Before we leave I would have there be peace between you," she traced around his ear over and over.

"I don't understand your soft spot for him," he pressed his face into what softness could be found on her wiry body.

"Think of it as your wedding present to me," she coaxed.

"I had planned on giving you something else," he said into her lap, his words humming against her.

"Talos," she sighed. He hauled himself upright and kissed her.

"Fine, I will make peace," he stood off the bed looking down at her. "Keep the dress on until I return."

"I am going to the Mothers, I will meet you on our ship."

He took one last look at her rumpled and flushed on the bed before he set his foot on the top rung and descended.

* * *

Giz was lost in thought as Talos descended from above. Only the thud of him jumping off the ladder made the boy whirl around, his hand jumping to his inner pocket.

"I thought I told you not to keep that thing loaded," Talos growled as he stared the boy down. Giz, seeing him, relaxed and dropped his hand.

"I do, but it still looks scary," the boy pouted. He scuffed his feet along the tile.

"Never point it unless you mean to shoot," Talos warned coming closer to him.

Talos fell into the co-pilot's seat, his eyes weighing the boy. He was always trying to see what Soren saw when she looked at him. She had seen him grow up, had watched him mourn his father, had stood idle as he wrapped himself in layer after layer of reckless anger. The boy shifted further from Talos but hovered near. A shy asteriod caught in his orbit. His eyes and fingers brushing the controls.

"Why are you here?" Talos asked at last.

"The Mothers have given me this ship," he said softly. His father's ship. His remaining legacy.

"Soren has given it to you," Talos corrected.

"Soren is mated now," Giz answered him matter-of-factly. Talos sucked at one of his teeth.

"I had noticed," Talos remarked dryly.

"So, she will be one of the Mothers soon," Giz stated thickly as if Talos was an idiot. Talos felt his gut clench. He may no longer want her beneath the Council's power but he did not want her further entrenched in the ways of the Ulohmu.

"Hard to do when she won't be here," he answered kicking his feet on the dash. If the kid minded he kept his mouth closed.

Giz turned to lean on the Console. He gave Talos a pitying look.

"You still don't understand us," he said with a teenage sense of superiority.

"I am not trying to understand you, I am trying to fulfill my duty."

"You should understand. The Ulohmu is Soren's life."

"Don't get wise with me, boy," Talos sat up with a growl. Peace-making was easier said than done.

"When the Ulohmu finds a Skrull without parents and not of age the rules say they must be adopted by a Mother before they join us. Did you not consider that before you mated her? That you might have to raise another man's kids?"

Soren had never brought it up. To his frustration, Talos had to concede this point to the whelp. He had never considered what it would mean if Soren stayed a part of the Ulohmu.

"That's not why I have come," he said lowly, pushing the thought from his mind. They would cross that bridge when they came to it.

"Why did you come?" Giz asked scuffing his boot into the floor. He mumbled and did not look up at Talos.

"Soren-" Talos closed his eyes and reconfigured his words. No peace could be made if it sounded forced. "-and I wanted to leave with nothing left unsaid. And I feel, boy, there is too much unspoken between us."

Giz looked up at him warily, his eyes probing the edges of Talos as if willing his senseless body to make use of its dulled organs. The boy showed no skill. His shifting was basic and he had given no signs of empathic powers. Talos wondered if it was frustrating to be undistinguished when surrounded by extraordinary women. And to be young as well.

"I hate you," Giz said softly his eyes looking to the middle distance. "I will never not hate you."

Talos tried to swallow a smile as he looked at his boots. There was something so endearing about the way he said it.

"That's alright," he said evenly. He felt Giz's gaze intensify.

"Don't you care?"

"I do. In a way. No one wants to be hated but you have my permission to hate me. And to change your mind, should the ocassion arise."

"I don't need your permission," Giz snarled.

"No, but doesn't it feel better to have it?"

The boy pouted but he nodded.

"I don't know how long I will be gone. Or when we will see each other again," Talos continued letting his head fall back as he counted the ceiling tiles. He breathed out long and slow feeling the awkwardness settle beneath his lungs as they made room in his chest. "Is there anything you need to know that perhaps you could not take to the Mothers?"

"I have Dek," he answered too fast. Talos watched the tick in his cheek. He tried to summon Soren's patience.

"It could be nice, knowing someone wasn't going to take sides," he offered loosely. Giz's jaw worked more.

They sat in awkward silence as Giz trailed his fingers through the maze of buttons and switches.

"What if they don't want to listen?" Giz asked at last.

"Who?"

"My crew," Giz didn't look at him. "On supply runs."

"Did you listen to Soren?"

"Sometimes," Giz sighed. "But she made me so mad."

Talos laughed under his breath, as Giz squirmed under the umbrella of silence. Let him repent for the past.

"And what did she do?"

Giz shrugged, "she made it better."

"How?"

Giz fiddled with a switch running his finger in the groove over and over.

"The way Soren does. I can't be like that-" the boy gestured vaguely with his hand.

Talos weighed his words carefully.

"I have spent a lot of time trying to figure out why Soren is different. I can only come to one conclusion."

"What is that?" The boy kicked his shoe into the plated floor.

"She can see the value in things others would not bother with."

"She isn't perfect," Giz spit out the words in a way that reminded Talos that Soren and Giz had grown up together.

"I would never accuse her of it," although he felt to his bones it was true. "I think you must decide who travels with you by appreciating the things others cannot see about them. And by growing that as something between the two of you."

"I can't see like that."

"I don't mean a power. I mean you must grow to be a man who cannot be fooled by the opinions of others. Who looks beyond to the value beneath. To be a leader like Soren," Talos stood before he said too much. He extended his hand to the boy, "that is only my opinion. You do not have to heed it."

Giz considered Talos' hand as if it could be a trap or a deal with the devil. Finally he shook it, grasping a little too tight.

"You do not need to worry I will hover over you," Talos sniffed as Giz released him. "But it would be a kindness to Soren to let her help."

"How?"

"Call her when you have need of her."

Giz stayed still as Talos made to leave.

"What if-" Talos paused as Giz called after him. Forming his question carefully. "What if Soren would not have you? What if she hadn't cared?"

Talos turned slowly, swallowing the answer that he would have made her care, he would have sought her to the ends of the universe. These were useless suppositions. And he knew Giz was not really asking about Soren.

"My mother, Sharan, was betrayed by one-sided love," Talos felt his mouth form the unfamiliar steeples of his mother's name. He realized for the first time in fourteen years he longed to say the name. To have her spoken of on this day when he became the other half. "Maybe that is why I have no stomach for it. It is not passion or love I wish for but respect and trust. These things cannot be all on one-side. You build them together, even if the final leap you make alone."

Giz nodded as he listened. Talos knew his answer was unsatisfying to teenage passions, but it was the truth.

"And if I became a man she could respect?"

"You will go mad chasing that. Be a leader and a warrior you could respect. Who lands in front of you at the end may surprise you."

Giz chewed his cheek as he digested Talos' words.

"Goodbye, General Talos."

"Goodbye, Captain."

They parted but Talos could feel the trickle between them of Giz's smile.

As Talos descended the gangplank he felt lighter. He had to concede, once again, Soren was right.

* * *

Soren had been longer than expected. She stole onto their ship as the light faded around their camp. The music still drifted and small eddies formed but for the most part packing and rest were on everyone's minds. Tomorrow they would leave again. Whatever their purpose in coming here it had been abandoned.

The ship was dark as she walked up the ramp. Talos was a silhouette on the bed. He had retreated here and let her say goodbye to the others. She walked with her pack as quietly as she could. If she woke him, he didn't move. She slid it from her shoulders and leant it against the bed. She crawled in beside him and let her eyes adjust. She wriggled closer. He seemed asleep. She was tempted to roll over and join him but he had stoked a fire so deep in her that she still burned for him.

She blew a puff of air in his face and watched his brow crease and his nose crinkle. She did it again and he made a grunting sound. She giggled and would have done it again but he pounced.

"Do you have need of me, wife?" He growled from above her, his hands grabbing her wrists. The way the word rolled off his tongue turned her insides to jelly.

"Do you have need of me, husband?" She parroted back. She stretched up and rubbed the tip of her nose against his. She felt his chest rumble as he collapsed heavy on her. He kissed his way across her cheek until he found her mouth. Soren wanted to laugh and bury her face in his neck her happiness was so complete. If she could only press their bodies tighter together and feel every inch of him she thought her heart might stop fluttering so hard.

"Constantly," he whispered against her skin. He had stripped away his jacket and boots to lie on the bed. She could feel the heat of him radiate through the linen of his shirt. She wondered if there would come a time when this intimacy would lose its novelty, when she would no longer feel the devouring need for him. She hoped not. She wanted every nerve ending to stay alive to his touch.

"How was speaking to Giz?" She asked softly, running her hands over his crown as he kissed his way from her ear to her collarbones. She felt his groan more clearly than she heard it. He rolled off her and jabbed at her ribs. She tried to catch his hands, giddy laughter bursting out of her with each successful jab.

"Infernal woman, can't you see I am trying to seduce you?"

She mounted him, straddling his hips and wrapping her arms around his neck. He shifted powerfully beneath her. And something inside her quivered at the feeling of being smaller and weaker. She loved how strong he was beneath her hands.

"Consider me seduced," she grinned at him. "But first I would hear about your talk with Giz. It is my gift after all."

Talos sighed collapsing back into the mattress, he took one of her hands in his and idly brushed her fingertips over the fastening of his shirt.

"I can't get a hold on the boy," he said thoughtfully. "One moment I agree with him the next I want to strangle him."

Soren nodded, she took her hand back from Talos and began slipping loose the buttons, "that is his age."

Talos watched a thoughtful expression cross her face. He braced up on his elbows so he was nearer to her.

"He told me you are expected to join the Mothers."

Soren kept her eyes on the slow opening of his shirt. She nodded.

"It is being discussed," she answered him. Her fingers trailed beneath the linen, catching each ridge of bunched muscle as he reclined against his elbows.

"We won't be here," he watched her hesitation. "Maybe for a very long time."

"A lot is uncertain now," she agreed. It pained her to admit she still did not know what direction they were heading. How they would build a life with no place to call home. Talos sat up beneath her, he pulled her close.

"It is," he cradled her head and wrapped an arm around her middle. "We will meet it together, won't we?"

"We will," she turned her head and kissed his cheek. He sat back against the headboard so he could look at her.

"What else did the Mothers say?"

"Many things," Soren shook her head as if to clear the clammering. "Most of it to shoot you and come back at the first sign of trouble. I think they were kididng."

"They will grow to like me," he chuckled.

"They do, in their own distrusting way."

Talos reached for the straps of her dress, he pushed them down her arms. "They have raised you well. They have my gratitude."

"Would you not have loved the feral child of Nadiir?" Soren teased. She freed her arms but held the dress in front of her.

"Perhaps, though I would have been less likely to find her."

Soren moved from his lap and he tried to catch her. She stood and let the dress fall. Talos devoured her with her eyes as the fabric caught at her waist.

"Did I tell you, you are beautiful today?"

"I don't believe so," she grinned shyly.

"I have thought of nothing else since I found you," Talos came to the edge of the bed. He stripped away his open shirt and tugged Soren by her hips until she was between his knees. Her skin beside the soft grey was vibrant even in the low light. He pressed his forehead to her stomach and exhaled a long slow breath across her belly. Soren traced over the crown of his head and across his shoulders. He pushed the dress the rest of the way down so it floated over her legs and pooled at her feet. Instead of black basics she had a delicate vee of cut lace and mesh covering her. Talos grunted as he pressed himself again into her stomach. He traced the scalloped edge. Her nerves seeped through.

"I have felt silly all day," she admitted. "It's not a sensible thing to wear."

"You look perfect," he said against her skin. He edged his fingers gently beneath the lace, wary of damaging it with his desire to have her naked. He knew she was blushing and it made it sweeter.

"Indes sent another gift."

"I haven't finished opening this one," Talos ran his tongue along the edge of her underwear, delighting in the hissing sound she made. Soren shoved him back and he fell easily. She reached into her pack and removed a plum.

"We haven't had a meal together yet," she said laying on the bed. Talos stripped away his pants and lay beside her.

"I have been trying for hours to make a meal of you," he teased his fingers brushing the planes of her stomach. Soren rolled her eyes, taking a bite into the soft flesh. She held it out to Talos. He held her wrist as he took a bite, chasing the drips of juice rolling down her wrist with his tongue.

"You finish it," he swallowed moving to kiss down her sternum, she could feel the sugar on his tongue drying to her skin. She took another bite, closing her eyes as the tart flesh burst across her tongue and she could feel Talos' hot mouth moving lower. She paused with the bitten fruit against her lips as her focused narrowed to the trail he made down her stomach. She lifted her hips so he could slide her underwear down her legs.

She felt his breath first, the careful exhale of a man steadying himself for a delicate task. All of Soren was tense with anticipation. She licked her lips tasting the plum over again. The sharp sourness of the skin softened by the sugar of flesh. Talos kissed her once. A slow coaxing kiss as one thumb held her open to him. Everything seemed to flow to him as he hummed against her. Every movement of his tongue against her or dip of his fingers was measured and deliberate. He was learning her in a way there had been no time to do at the inn. He found a rhythm that made her body clench and her knees try to press together. He gathered her closer, his fingers digging in to the muscles of her hips. Her throat ached from swallowing small cries and his grip in her flesh was exquisite pain. Her hips tilted as if to encourage her mate into her body but he stayed pinned between her quivering thighs.

When she came it was with a gasp like a drowning woman breaking the surface of the water. Talos grinned against her and kissed her thighs as they relaxed.

He moved up her body quickly.

"I thought I told you to finish this," he growled taking a large bite of the half eaten fruit before he kissed her. The juice ran down her chin as she opened her mouth to the cold taste of him. When he released her she took the last bites quickly before sucking the pit clean. She rolled to her side and reached into her pack. Moving items until she produced the small lacquer box. She opened the lid and dropped the glistening pit in with six others.

"And what is that?" Talos asked pulling her against him.

"Treasure," she teased slipping the box back into her pack. "When I have a home I am going to plant them."

"Do you think they'll still grow?" He asked kissing her temple trying to tilt her back towards him and his shaking needy body.

"At least I will have given them a chance," she answered rolling under him as he framed her face with his hands lifting his weight from crushing her.

"And what is this?" He asked pulling a vial from beneath the pillow where it had rolled as Soren dug in her pack. Her eyes went wide and she covered her mouth trying to snatch it back. Talos rolled away from her, tilting its cloudy red contents in the meager light. He reached for the panel and brought the lights up low. "Is it explosive?"

Soren made to snatch it back but he held it away from her.

"It's just Tank being Tank," she grumbled as she reached for it. She made a frustrated sound as she stretched. She gave in and curled forward kissing his neck and jaw. She felt his stretching muscles soften as she reached his shoulders.

When he was pliant beneath her, she lunged for his hand. He made a sound half laugh, half snarl as he caught her around the middle and slammed her back into the bunk.

"It must be good if you are this eager to hide it," he tilted the vial above her head. She covered her eyes a blush going all the way down to beneath the crown of her ribcage.

"It's an amplifier," she said into the muffle of her forearms.

"A what?"

She moved her hands away sighing.

"An amplifier," she repeated, trying to reach for it. "It's a stupid Skrull tradition."

"How so?" Talos asked looking at the vial more intensely. It held greater interest now than just teasing Soren. Something to do with his people.

"Wedding Nights were meant to be shared with your people. Brides would take a root that increased their empathic powers. Tank, in her infinite wisdom, has replaced it with Nadiirian synthetic stimulant."

"I like Tank's thinking," Talos answered grinning. "We should do it. For tradition."

Soren sat up pulling a pillow in front of her. "Easy for you, you won't be the one everyone can feel."

"There is enough for two here," he soothed her. "They will know anyway. And you will feel them too. And me."

Soren was eying the vial. She was tempted by the idea. The freedom of being open to the universe, to a tradition she had never experienced. There was a reason Skrulls past had done it. It connected their web tighter. Their empathy was what made them one people united by compassion. She reached for the tube and Talos let her take it.

"I don't want to make a fool of myself," she said pressing the vial to her chest. Talos reached for her and brushed her cheek.

"You are beautiful. What you feel is beautiful even without this," he assured her. She exhaled slowly opening the cap. The smell of burnt sugar wafted through the air. She glanced at him for a moment before deciding to be bold, knowing if she had instead poured it down the sink it would change nothing between them. She tipped half back before passing him the open vial. He drained it with a cough.

Her throat tickled with acrid taste that burned at the back of her tongue. Not knowing what else to do she slid down the bed, lying on her side holding the pillow to her. Talos moved behind her, he followed the curves of her body with his palms. She was drifting away in his caress. She closed her eyes and the dim lights of the cabin left pink halos hanging in the dark.

Talos eased the pillow from her grip and she was too far away to grip it harder. It left her arms as if it was floating away. He kissed along her brow and softly over her eyelids. The warmth of him like a low hanging cloud. She shivered realizing she had cooled as night grew deeper outside the craft.

"You can tell me to stop," Talos said gently in her ear as he slid his basics down his legs. Soren hummed. She wouldn't. She was lost in a warm sea of pink and gold. "Say yes, Inamorata."

"Yes," she breathed as he turned her fully onto her back. The dipping of the mattress beneath his weight was the waves and she was rocking with them.

"Are you sure?" He insisted, trailing his nose along the stretched tendon of her neck. It felt like flitting moth wings. She reached for him, eyes still closed, seeing him as a a deep crimson shadow in the gold light that bouyed her.

"Where are we?" He asked nipping at her shoulder as he rocked his hips against her.

"Trillium," she answered dreamily.

"Where do we go next?"

"Sordona," she murmured feeling the weight of him press against her. He vibrated with pent up desire as he stroked her and quizzed her.

"And what is their chief export?"

She snorted into his shoulder, her eyes fluttering open as she forced them to focus on him. The gold light was still around them. "Is this a test?"

"I am making sure you have your faculties," he reached between them and drew himself against her. Her eyes rolled back.

"Agricultural or technology?"

"Can't you name both?"

"Soltana bacterial resistant wheat and crystalline datum structures," she laughed.

"Good girl," he groaned as he pushed into her. Then she was truly lost. The red shadow engulfed her swirling with gold flecks. Her eyes closed again and she was barely aware of the mattress beneath her or the slide of her skin against his. These existed on a plane that was no longer relevant.

Lights moved past her eyes, bobbing and swirling. Each was its own colour but as she reached for them with her mind, brushing against each one, feeling them sizzle and prickle against her skin that wasn't her skin they turned to gold. Joy moved like one thousand bubbles beneath her skin. She held Talos closer, his breathing the new ocean, red as he exhaled, white and gold as he inhaled. Drawing her desire into his lungs. She opened her eyes and sat up, he rolled pliantly beneath her.

She settled her body above him, leaning forward to find more room inside her. His eyes were glassy and he seemed to trace things she could not see. She made a diamond with her thumbs and forefingers against his sternum as she pinned him down. She focused there, watched it as she rocked. She leaned toward him as a supplicant at a temple would. His hands gripped her hips and steadied her. His eyes rolled back and his lips curled in a snarl. She lifted higher, bracing so he could rut upward and chase the growing glimmer between them.

He curled upwards, pushing down on her shoulders so he was seated deep and firm in her as a guttural sound rumbled between them. She was falling too. Her body pulsing and tensing in time with his as her inner muscles drew him deeper. She collapsed forward and he caught her. He rolled them to the side so their legs tangled together and their panting breathes mingled.

"I want you again," he groaned reaching for her. She laughed batting his hands away. His grip was lax and he seemed to barely be able to lift himself from the bunk.

"Even you need sleep, General Talos."

"I resent that," he answered rolling to his back. She had heat in her limbs again, more than she could bear but she followed him anyway, nestling her head into his shoulder. "Now we have christened her, I suppose this ship needs a name."

"The Aerjilah."

"Your mud goddess?" He looked down his chest at her, one eyebrow quirked.

"River goddess. Bringer of life, she molds man from clay," Soren corrected him, tracing patterns on his chest. She imagined the river from the epics. The life-giver and destroyer. Power that existed as both. That changed with each bend. It was how Soren often felt, when they arrived to save the people but they brought with them the destruction of their enemies. Good intentions either cut short by running or buried beneath the rubble.

"What is the difference?" He asked lifting her fingers and placing them against his lips.

"Between what is born and what is endless? All things that are born must return to the earth."

"Where they become clay again. That makes her the mud goddess."

"Whatever she is, my ship has her name."

"A good name," Talos agreed. He reached to turn off the lights once more. Soren lay on her back tracing her finger through the small pinholes of light that were there but not there. It was beautiful, she thought. Everything at that moment was beautiful.


	43. Chapter 43

Soren drifted in and out of sleep as the night wore on. When she woke she would reach for Talos. He was an anchor as she slept fitfully. When she touched him he always roused, as if her unsettled thoughts were keeping him awake as well. The lights and clouds had faded. She was once again in the present with the future looming uncomfortably hazy in front of them.

For all her insistence that she would go to Sordona, she hardly knew where to begin when she got there. This uncertainty chased around her mind until Talos, sensing her distress, would scatter these thoughts as he made love to her again and again. She would drift off to sleep nestled against him and open her eyes in the burning temples of Sordona.

Emerys was there, frustratingly silent. A spectre of the Kree that had died in the Embassy or perhaps Soren's own uncertainty. Taking on Emerys' form without Indes' blessing had been her first transgression. Though she could not regret it, it felt like the beginning.

Finally she woke to the sound of movement. She slipped from the bed leaving Talos groaning. She dressed quietly, folding carefully her dress from the day before. She put on her boots feeling the nerves rise in her gut at the thought of seeing them all again. And saying goodbye.

Trillium's purple dawn carried the cold of the night, weighing down the smell of jungle and sulphur. Around the three ships, the white tents were being pulled down. Reema was at the fire, making breakfast. Soren moved among the Ulohmu feeling as if she bore a mark she could not see.

She resisted the urge to help the others tear down the tents and sought out Reema's fire.

"Well one of you is awake," she teased from over her large cast iron pot. She stirred the mix of seeds and wheat faithfully. Soren blushed again thinking of Talos' questions from the night before. Now, Soltana wheat was for breakfast.

"Good morning, Reema," she ducked her head kissing her cheek. "Did you sleep well?"

"Never better," Reema answered her with a grin and a twinkle in her eye. Soren's eyes found the dirt as she sat on a bench. "And you, girlie?"

Soren stammered. She was interrupted by a thwap on her shoulder of a rod.

"What fool let you out of bed?" Tank enquired. She stepped her foot up on the bench and looked like a rakish pirate from a holonovel.

"Talos is still asleep," Soren offered lamely.

"A good night, then?" Tank teased jabbing Soren with her rod, wiggling her brow, until Soren caught the end and wrestled it from her.

"You know it was," Soren grit low from her teeth eyes darting to Reema, who cocked her head. Tank froze.

"You didn't," she said in shock, her voice dropping down an octave.

"Talos said-"

Soren's words were cut off as Tank sprung at her. She wrapped her arms around Soren's shoulders and made gleeful trilling noises.

"You minx, you wanton harlot, you bold guttersl-"

Soren rolled her off, pinning her half to the bench by her shoulders.

"Wait, you couldn't tell?"

Tank threw her head back and laughed maniacally.

"Little Soren, who are you?" She demanded sitting up in Soren's grip. "It was just Nadiirian Jarru tincture with a little brandy. Did you take it all? Did you trip your butt off?"

Soren's eyes went wide as she realized how neatly she had fallen into Tank's joke. She began to strike at her with the flat of her hand, glancing blows that left Tank cackling.

"You tricked me, you said-" they devolved into wrestling as Reema looked on in shock.

"No, wrestling by the fire," she said half laughing. She put her boot against the bench and tipped them backward so they both rolled laughing and struggling into the dirt.

"I was so ashamed, you monster," Soren rolled Tank under her.

"What is going on?" Dania asked her voice hollow with surprise as Tank toppled Soren easily, their hands slapping against each other. Thalla's mouth fell open like a goggle-eyed glow rat as Dania leaned heavily on her arm.

"It was all fake," Soren moaned as she bit Tank's arm that tried to pin her to the ground.

"Don't tell Talos. He'll feel less the man," Tank teased as she pulled Soren's ear until her teeth let go.

"What was fake?" Thalla asked eagerly as she righted the bench and set Dania on it.

"Soren-" Tank began nearly breathless with laughter. She was stopped by Soren's hand clamping around her mouth. She words fell to muffled noise. 

"Don't you dare say a word," Soren howled, throttling her.

Dania looked to Reema who was nearly bent double with silently laughing.

"I think," she coughed wiping her eyes with her apron, "a trick was played."

"Tank said it was tradition and I believed her," Soren looked at her mother with helpless eyes as she kept a hand clamped over Tank's mouth. She let go when she felt the slimy squirming of Tank's tongue against her fingers. She made a disgusted sound as she rolled away wiping her hand on her trousers.

"What's tradition?" Thalla begged. She looked breathless with jealousy as if she longed to jump into the tussle. Dania rubbed her temple.

"Does this have something to do with Bride Root?"

"Yes," Tank laughed sticking her tongue out at Soren, who flung a stick at her.

"What's Bride Root?" Thalla asked with wide eyes. Soren groaned curling into her knees, hiding her face.

"An old old old tradition," Dania explained.

"Extinct even," Reema added.

"For their first meal together a mated couple would drink a tea made with a special root. Their ability to perceive emotion and radiate it would increase until it was said all the Skrulls near them could feel their love and be bound by it."

"Why didn't we do that for the ceremony?" Thalla asked dreamily.

"Because that root only grew on Skrullos. It is said to be the sister herb to the Skrulls. We grew above the soil and connected all living things in the air. The Root grew below and connected the planet from within. The Skrulls nurtured it. No Skrulls, no Skrullos, no Root," Reema explained.

"Then why is Soren mad?" Thalla looked to her.

"Tank?" Dania's voice carried a warning. Tank held up her hands in surrender.

"I was, at best, vague," she defended as Talos came through the camp. "It's not my fault Little Soren has no memory for traditions."

"Vague about what?" Talos asked as he joined the circle. His eyes moved immediately to Soren and Tank in the dirt. Soren hid her face more. Tank sprang up grabbing his hand, pumping it vigorously.

"Congratulations, my good man, I can admit defeat," Tank said enthusiastically. Talos quirked his brow letting her shake his whole arm his eyes moving about the circle. "After ten long years you have succeeded where I have failed and made Soren fun."

"Talos," Soren called out to him. "Tank is my enemy, strike her down."

"I am sorry," Talos said helplessly gripping Tank's hand tighter. Tank's eyes went wide as she tried to struggle loose. 

"What are you doing?" Tank demanded as Talos hauled her towards him ducking his shoulder beneath her. He hoisted her in the air and over his shoulder.

"I must do as my mate commands," he answered turning her about as Tank's legs kicked. Thalla laughed as Dania and Reema protested to be careful. "Shall the river do, Beloved?"

"Yes, dunk her in the river," Soren insisted as she got to her feet. She wiped the dirt from her pants.

"I say, you've plucked the wrong one, my friend," a voice came from above. All looked up, Tank twisted on Talos shoulder.

"Eros," she called. "They are ganging up on me."

Eros touched down, his toes landing lightly in the red earth. Only Talos' mouth fell open.

"Tank, I am afraid I know you too well," Eros teased. "You have, without a doubt, earned it." 

Tank stuck her tongue out at him as Talos deposited her on the ground once more. Eros embraced Soren, making her look small in his arms.

"It's official, then?"

Soren turned to look at Talos, who coughed and straightened his wrinkled coat.

"As official as it can be," she answered smiling.

"Have you heard from Bal-Kar?" Talos asked.

"The Star is intrigued," Eros answered. If the other Skrulls were curious they kept it to themselves. Reema began doling out food, Tank and her sulking were first in line.

Soren and Talos shared a look.

"Why have you come?" Soren took a bowl from Thalla. She straddled the bench so she faced Dania, who brushed more dirt from Soren's clothes with an affectionate look in her eyes.

Eros looked over at the glinting Lazuli, "since Tank crashed your last ship trying to break the atmosphere, I thought I could be of assistance."

Soren looked relieved while Tank made a rude hand gesture over her breakfast.

"Thank you, you ease my mind."

"Ours as well," Dania smiled up at Eros.

"It's the least I can do for old friends," Eros said with a small smile. "Speaking of, I should find Indes."

Eros passed Giz as he came through the tents with Caira walking in front of him. His hands hovered above their shoulders as they determinedly carried a wiggling Ala in their arms. His mouth set in a grumpy line that didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Look at my big and powerful Skrulls," Reema called to them.

"Ala and I want breakfast," Caira demanded.

"Where is Dek?" Reema asked Caira.

"In our tent," Caira pointed.

"Leave Ala with Giz and go take Dek his breakfast," Reema said in an even voice. Sweet but stern. Ala, who had already been slipping in Caira's grasp, found themselves hauled roughly against Caira's thin body.

"No," they pouted, "I want to feed Ala, I am old enough."

Ala began to cry as Caira held them too roughly. Reema tried to stir the bubbling wheat and extract her baby from Caira's grasp. Giz to his credit reached to take his sibling.

"I will take Dek breakfast," Talos volunteered over the crying. Reema looked at him relieved.

"Caira come sit on the bench," Soren soothed. "Ala needs to sit to eat."

Caira regarded Soren warily, but as Ala cried louder and struggled they started to be overwhelmed. Soren passed her bowl to Dania and reached her arms out. Caira relinquished Ala to Soren. Talos watched her as Reema filled two bowls. She shushed and rocked Ala until their sniffling tear stained face relaxed and they began to look around them again. Distress forgotten.

"She is so good with the little ones," Reema remarked bringing Talos' focus back to her outstretched hand.

"Yes," he said gruffly, taking the bowls. He turned to find Dek's tent. Pausing to kiss Soren's temple. He whispered to her, "no fist fights while I am gone."

"No promises," she answered him, wrinkling her nose.

"Then at least uphold our family's honour and win."

Talos' heart beat nervously against his ribs as he walked through the tents. He had spoken without thinking but the words were true. They were a family now. They were the plum pips Soren had hoarded. Maybe just the beginning now but they could grow. They could set deep roots and blossom with fruit. It was dizzying in its potential. To combine together to form not just a family but honour, tradition, identity. It was as hopeful as it was fragile.

Talos reached Dek's tent and called inside. The older man lifted the flap.

"General, I did not expect you," Dek answered looking only brief at Talos before his eyes darted over his shoulder and around. Talos held out one of the bowls awkwardly. Dek looked at it for a moment before taking it.

"I had hoped to speak to you," Talos left the words hanging.

"Yes?"

Talos' eyes slid behind deck to the interior of the tent. Dek followed his eyeline. "Oh yes, please eat with me."

"Thank you," Talos said beneath his breath, following Dek as he returned. He was not sure why he was invading his privacy only he felt he owed the man something who had married them.

Inside the tent were crates, small and water tight. Dek sat on one. Talos turned to another, bending to right the lid. He paused seeing nestled inside the worn spines of books, smuggled from Cairn. He hesitated. Dek looked to him and followed his gaze.

"Soren was very generous on Cairn," he said softly. Talos bristled a little. He wondered if this man had turned his wife into a thief. Books were not a necessity. They were a laughable status symbol. Aloma's pretenious waste of space. Talos only grunted. He closed the crate. He was here to thank Dek, not judge him.

"I owe you an apology, General," Dek said pausing with his spoon lifted midway to his mouth. Talos froze hovering above his seat. He cough and lowered himself the rest of the way.

"I can't imagine that is true," he protested.

"I have spoken my doubts about you in every form I have encountered you. I hope you can forgive my caution," Dek blinked his wet eyes.

"I have never held it against you," Talos said cautiously. "You were not wrong about me."

"Was I not?" Dek asked his voice was high with too much air in between the words. He took a bite of his breakfast. There was silence between them as each man made dents in the congealing and cooling wheat. Dek considered Talos between bites. "Do you know who I am?"

"Veda mentioned."

"Then you can imagine why your connection to the Council would be concerning for me."

"In a way, our service to them is the same," Talos said chasing a ripple of dark brown sugar around the edge of his bowl.

"How so?"

"It's meant to end in death."

A silence hung heavy between them, broken by Dek's sorrowful voice. "Mine did."

"You do not have to tell me."

Dek exhaled, tears he did not shed hung from his breath.

"I want to. I want to speak of it. To plant a piece of memory in another. It is rare for ths opportunity to arise."

"The Mothers must have asked?"

"They did not need to. They were there, but it is not their way to dwell in the past. And yet it is a wound that I would pick at eternally if I could. I seem never done with it."

Talos nodded, he put aside his bowl. He felt Soren knew so much of his story. His losses. Yet she never spoke of her own. Not directly. She would glance against the topic like sunlight on the scales of a diving fish. Skimming, momentary before it was gone.

"I understand the temptation."

"I am a Keeper, perhaps it has transformed my nature into someone who feels their work is never finished?"

"That is a disease we all suffer from," Talos answered. He pictured Soren moving constantly, the war made them restless spirits.

Dek laughed to himself, he tapped the inside of his bowl with a spoon. A hollow sound. He smiled, the lenses of his glasses distorting his eyes so they looked larger and brighter than they were.

"Is it strange I don't know where to begin? The opportunity to speak of all the things I have wished to say to the Council and I find myself mired in indecision."

"You could tell me where it was you were stationed."

"It is the way of the Keeper to travel. My wife, my daughter and I. It was a luxury I took for granted even as I came upon again and again families struggling to stay together. We had come to Terius at the Council's behest."

"Why Terius?"

"They are our allies of old. They have borne the brunt of Kree colonization longer than other planets. Their closeness to Hala put them in the path of the Kree but it also meant the first attacks on Skrullos flooded Terius with our people. There are even Terians who have Skrull ancestors."

Talos was rocked by the information. He had not considered there would be old allies. That the Skrulls escaping the original war could have found peace and roots among their neighbours. That Skrulls were not always hated.

"I have shocked you," Dek said with a pleased smile. "It is not common information."

"Why not?" Talos said low and rough. His tongue constricted by anger.

"What would you do with such knowledge?" Dek responded calmly. Talos didn't have an answer, he only knew he was angry something would be withheld from him. That they had allies. That the universe was not friendless. Dek continued, "if I was feeling contrary I would point out that you did know. That the answers to our past are within us all. If we seek to understand beyond the words."

Talos bowed his head. He could not argue that he had in his apathy been uninterested in his people's history. It felt fruitless to dwell in the past if it held no key to the future. If there was no future. Only an unending present.

"What we found on Terius was devestation. The Kree control the food and the only way to earn it is to go into the mines. The land is dead and agriculture is impossible. The Kree removed the spine of the Terian livelihood then fed it back to them as charity. When they emerge from the mines their lungs are coated in deadly dust and they are exposed to sickness that was meant to stay in the earth. I assume it was this destruction that brought the Ulohmu."

"The Ulohmu were there?" Soren's words about the Council finding them on Terius floated back. He knew this story would not have a noble end.

"Our sisters are always drawn to trouble," Dek smiled affectionately. "I understand them better now but you can imagine my reaction when I first learned of their being on Terius."

"Did you tell the Council?" Talos' throat was tight. Dek's eyes returned to his bowl.

"To my eternal regret," he said softly.

"And they forgave you?"

"I find their capacity for forgiveness overwhelming. Or perhaps I was such a pathetic creature when they pulled me from the wreckage of my ship they felt they had no choice. I woke up on the Ibu-Ibu already fleeing Terius. My wife and daughter were dead, our ship shot down by the Council. We were mistaken for the Ulohmu fleeing. I learned very quickly the kind of men I served."

This was something Talos could sympathize with, the shaking of faith. Dek, it seemed, had been knocked from his place among their people while Talos clung without reason to the base of the pedestal. Perhaps he had not yet been robbed of enough or maybe it was that love had shaken him. Love that sought to find a middle path. He thought it was possible the farther they traveled together the weaker the Council's hold on him would grow.

"And yet, I feel my story is not why you came here, General," Dek interrupted Talos' thoughts.

Talos coughed. He rubbed his hands together awkwardly. He thought of Dek's hands wrapped around his own. An intimacy from a man who was a stranger.

"I wanted to thank you," Talos answered, tugging on his cuffs. "For marrying us."

"It was a pleasure," Dek answered. His smile was wistful. "I was hesitant when Indes suggested it, but she was right that our service to the Council binds us. She hoped you would not feel outnumbered."

Talos paused it had not occured to him Indes had planned so far.

"I cannot get a grasp on her," he answered honestly.

"She defies expectation."

"Did she say why? Why she wanted us married?"

Dek paused and considered his words. "I can answer better as a father than I can as her friend."

"I would hear that too."

"To see it. Even if it is only momentary joy. When you know a path has been chosen for better or for worse, why not embrace the joy? Our lives are too fleeting, too unpredictable. You could love Soren for one hundred years but Indes may never see either of you again. Why risk missing it?"

Talos nodded. He stood and extended his hand to Dek.

"Thank you, Brother. Whatever comes between me and the Council, your presence here will not be spoken of."

Dek stood and gripped Talos' forearm.

"The man I was is dead but he rests easy knowing you would stand by him."

Talos left Dek to his stolen books and his buried past. He felt he had more answers but no less questions. He moved through the disappearing camp, ears pricked for Soren's laugh. Every moment they delayed the call of the Council seemed to hang heavier over his head. 

It was time for them to leave again.


	44. Chapter 44

Soren held Ala against her, feeling the fluttering of their heart against her chest like the thrum of tiny bird wings. Talos' kiss still clung hot to her temple, his words tumbling through her again and again. Their family's honour. Was it possible that the current of desire could carry one so far out to sea before clarity struck? She was giddy and fearful at the words, she had only ever sought with Talos a longer present. Another day, another hour, another minute. Now only fate could separate them. 

She looked at the soft, plump flesh of Ala's head, stroking their cheek thoughtfully. Dania was watching her with heavy eyes, Soren did nothing to disguise the tenor of her thoughts. She felt around her the clinging dull amber of desire, of hope. How would she feel to hold Talos' child? If the small body nestled against her was her own flesh and blood? The potential was like a hot demanding spire between her lungs. Defy the war and thrive.

Caira settled across from her, an earnest look on their face. They were passed a bowl of slushy wheat. They took it with focussed, steady hands. Dania supported them, shifting them closer.

"Go slow Caira," Dania advised. "Ala's mouth is small."

Caira nodded and held a small spoonful up to Ala. Ala leaned forward against Soren's hand, their young belly firm like a drum. Soren watched Caira, could this be hers as well? Many children. From Talos or from the Ulohmu. Jumbled together until they were one.

Caira fed Ala two more spoonfuls each with less interest until they dropped the spoon and craned their neck to look at Dania.

"Can I go?"

Dania laughed and smoothed Caira's shirt. Ala leaned forward still, all-seeing eyes on the bowl of mush.

"Of course."

With that Caira hopped off the bench and took off.

"All that fuss," Reema clicked her tongue affectionately. "They have no focus at that age."

"And that, Thalla, is why we get implants," Tank teased as she popped up and moved to sit beside Dania. She leaned affectionately against Dania as she picked up Soren's half eaten breakfast. Thalla blushed.

"Are you eating my breakfast?" Soren asked her eyes on Ala as she picked up where Caira left off. Ala opened their heart shaped mouth greedily for the spoon.

"Are you and the General going to make beautiful bouncing babies?" Tank asked raising her brow.

"I don't want to hear this," Giz groaned into his breakfast. 

"The love between Skrulls is a beautiful thing," Tank grinned at Giz as she scraped up the last of Soren's breakfast. "If you ever get away from all of us long enough you will learn that. Although I hope the one you pick can handle a dozen scowling sisters armed to the teeth."

Giz's eyes nearly burned a hole in the bottom of his bowl. Thalla and he seemed to be competing for who could blush the fiercest. Soren could feel the straining murky frustration in him reaching for Thalla.

"Don't listen to her, Giz," Soren called wiping muck from Ala's mouth. "Tank's never left the Guardians. She gets all her dates mid fire fight. Then kicks her bunk mates out into the cold."

"You could have stayed," Tank said with a wink. "Maybe then the General would have been less impressive."

"Talos is so nice," Thalla interrupted with her burning cheeks.

"Yes, he is," Reema soothed wrapping her arms around Thalla. "Tank, you are in a mood today."

"I don't like goodbyes. They put me in a mood," Tank stood again from the bench. Ache like sour bora fruit peeled off her in citron waves. She stacked Soren's bowl in hers and took off down to the river.

Dania sighed, shaking her head. "Never a dull moment since you two met. Like water and fire, always making steam."

"I don't want to part but-"

"We must. You are not wrong, Soren. Something has changed. There is something we are missing. It is not just the violence on Rhondar, a tide has changed. We must learn how to crest it together. Your risk will serve your people in a way we have not yet imagined."

Soren leaned forward, settling Ala awkwardly between them. She embraced her mother.

"Talos is a good man and a better soldier," she assured Dania. "He won't let anything happen to me."

"Knowing he will be with you has been a comfort," Dania answered her.

They were rocked by Thalla's small body embracing Soren from behind. Dania straightened so she could take Ala. Soren turned and soothed her hand over Thalla painting her fears with the conviction she held from Talos. The confidence he had settled around him when he was in a precarious situation. Threads he knotted selflessly around her heart.

"I could help if you let me," Thalla mumbled into Soren's shoulder.

"I need to know you and Tank are protecting the Mothers," Soren rested her forehead against Thalla's temple. "And that Giz has the Fedjaeger. I can't be brave without you."

Giz looked up at her, his face an unreadable mix of apprehension, surprise and desire. Soren wondered if, like Thalla, they had failed to love Giz properly. Thalla, who had bloomed under the minutest attention of her sisters. Thalla, who had seen Rhondar fall to blood shed but had no tears. Did Giz feel the absence of guiding peers? Surrounded by women who could not guide him through the individual pains of his sex.

"Where is your brother?" She asked Thalla. Since landing on Trillium she had barely seen Thwane.

"He is meditating," Thalla said with rolling eyes. "It's all he does any more."

"Take me to him," Soren said standing and reaching a hand to Thalla. Thwane could best answer the questions her dreams of Sordona had left her with.

Thalla stopped just outside the tent. Everything was stripped from it. All that remained was the exterior shell, half pulled down and the canvas flapping. Soren was reminded as she approached, peace seeping from between the seams, of finding him on Sordona. The soul survivor of a vicious take over.

"Should we knock?"

"He won't answer anyway. Just barrage in."

Soren awkwardly lifted the flap. Thwane was seated on his knees, palms facing the ceiling. His pale head stayed shaved with its long tail of black hair. His eyes fluttered as if behind the lids he chased some vision.

"Thwane?" Soren hesitated. "I need to speak with you."

He didn't move or acknowledge her. Thalla groaned from the opening of the tent. She launched herself at her brother, raining open handed blows down on his head.

"The Captain is talking, Harthorn Butt," she lobbed the insult at him. He shook off his stupor grabbing her about the middle and pulling her over.

"Stop hitting me Thalla," he chided her. "You are the Harthorn Butt."

"You smell like leopard dung," she flung back aiming a kick square to his chest as he tried to pin her hands. Soren coughed and the siblings turned to look at her. Thwane scrambled back, he bowed to Soren.

"Captain, my apologies."

"It's fine, Thwane. I have questions about Sordona."

She watched him hesitate. His sensitive face incapable of disguising his concern.

"Not about your brotherhood," she assured him. "About the Kree occupation and how you survived."

"My master saved me," he said softly. "I can't answer your questions. Sordona is no longer my reality."

"There was an attack against the Kree on Sordona," Soren said softly. Her gaze moved from Thwane to his sister. "After we left. All the Skrull colonies have been wiped out. Our presence there has been called the cause."

"No," Thalla said softly.

"I know I should go to Sordona to clear our name, but I do not know what to look for. It is only my convictions that take me there," Soren explained.

"Thalla should leave," Thwane answered. Soren felt bold resistance build like bricks around Thalla's feet.

"It is my homeworld too."

"Thalla," Soren pleaded with her. The young girl growled. 

"Fine but I will be right outside."

She scowled as she flung herself through the flap. Thwane watched her go, with a sad look on his face.

"We have never really discussed my abilities" Thwane said in a soft voice, his eyes on his feet. "Growing up where we did Thalla and I were at first treated like miracle children. Our natural abilities fostered within a religion that was not our own. Its views on the body's relationship to the mind combined with empathy of our people - well you have seen it. And felt it."

"A good argument for our potential if we were allowed to live freely."

"Simply put I survived because every Kree that met me could not keep me in their mind," Thwane turned away from her as if expected to see on her face a look he could not bear. "While my brothers died I was a coward. I walked unharmed to the bowels of the temple and waited for them to finish what they had begun."

"You couldn't have saved them," Soren tried to comfort him. She reached for him with soft blue waves of sorrow. "It is our lot not to fight but to survive. To be merciful during suffering, that is what Indes has always taught us. That mercy and compassion in the face of evil is greater than any act of violence."

"The teachings of your master are not the same as my own. To be fearless in death, to strike at those who seek to disrupt the peace, to guard the wisdom of the ages. These were our tenets," he stayed with his shoulders bent. "When tested it was my nature that won out."

Shame the colour and taste of rust drifted from the fineness of his movements.

"Thwane," Soren walked closer to him. All of her empathy and body open to him. "Did you plant the charges at the Embassy?"

Thwane laughed coldly, Soren felt every crest like a dagger.

"If I could have been so brave. Even in retribution I failed."

"It is never failure to not cause pain," Soren reached for him again. This time she took him by the shoulders. He was close to her age but he felt younger. Precious. When he did not flinch she pulled him closer and wrapped her arms around him, her wrists crossing in front of his chest. She felt him hestiate before he closed his hands over hers.

"The deaths of the other Skrulls-"

"Not just them," Soren said softly. "We are made to hold the universe within us. When Sordoni die, when the Kree die, the pain is the same."

"If you go to Sordona and found I have lied or find evidence that it was our people, what will you do?"

Soren paused. She did not release Thwane she only held him tighter. She could hear in his words the little boy pushed away to save others. She would not combine hurtful truths with insurmontable distance.

"Talos comes with me. In this matter I must recognize the role the Elders play. I shall give them who is responsible even if it hurts my family."

Thwane parted her hands and turned in her arms holding her wrists between them. He raised his eyes to her.

"I believe you believe that."

He reached into his shirt and removed a dark crystal hanging from a string. He hung it about her neck.

She looked at it turning it in the diffused light.

"This is an unrefined form of technology. Sordona produces better, more efficient ones now, but this was taken from deep within the temple vaults. If you can read it, it may aid your task."

"Thank you." She did not dare hug him again. His pain so deep she felt inadequate to soothe it.

Thalla was grinding her boots into the dirt outside. She looked up when Soren left.

"What did he tell you?"

"It's not my place Thalla, you need to get ready to leave." 

The camp around them was disappearing quickly but not quickly enough. They couldn't call the Elders and make their offer until the others jumped. Thalla made a shrill frustrated sound and charged into the tent. Soren turned and almost called her name but she couldn't pause. They couldn't delay for squabbles. One of the mothers would need to intervene.

Thwane turned as she threw open the tent flap. Thalla was seething, an animal rage was shaking her so that she did not know if she wanted to scream and strike at him or collapse to the earth and cry. The anger filled her so completely every organ from her lungs to her womb ached with it.

"Thalla-" Thwane held up his hands and the thin thread of silence snapped.

"Get rid of that face. It makes me sick to look at it."

"I told you-"

"I don't care what you told me. I don't care," she charged the space between them and shoved him, hard. He stumbled and caught her. They tangled, their boots scuffing the ground, but neither toppled. "How do I know you are even him? Do you know how long I waited? And you don't even look like him."

He tried to pull her close but she wrestled away from him. How she had longed to see her brother again. To see him grown up. It felt like a cruel irony this man had met them at the temple.

"Don't touch me," she cried against the pain. Thwane took a step back from her, his face draining colour as if her anger petrified him. "You are all I have and as long as you wear that face we do not even share blood."

"How can I prove myself without abandoning what I hold dear?"

"Is this who you love more than me?" Thalla looked at him in disgust. "Is this who you want to save when you didn't so much as look for me?"

"I was young, I assumed-"

"I was young," she hurled the words back at him. "You were all I had and you have not even been brave enough to ask what sort of life I led after they parted us."

"We are together now-"

"No. No we are not. When I got your message I thought we could be a family again. I was wrong."

"I can't forget all my training, I cannot forget my master. If nothing else survives of our brotherhood he must survive."

"Then you have killed my brother and I am alone."

"I am still me-"

"And who is that? You have hid since we came back, lost in your meditation. And I have tried to be patient but now our homeworld is attacked and you won't speak of it in front of me. If this is my brother he is a coward."

"You don't understand," he was reaching for her and she considered him like a viper in the grass. His touch could steal her anger, her memories, anything that shook her faith in him. As she recoiled she realized she did not trust him not to do these things.

"You are right, I don't," she answered him her voice drowned in ice. "We are better parted, brother. I see that now."

She ducked from the tent as boldly as she had thrown herself through the opening. She could no longer bear the sight of him.


End file.
